Kate Winchester
by Winchestergirl67
Summary: Sisfic, set in season four. Dean's back from hell and is struggling to cope with the memories that haunt him. Sam and Kate seem to be keeping secrets from both each other and Dean and apparently there's an apocalypse on the way.
1. Chapter 1

_Dean - 28, Sam - 24, Kate - 22_

Kate sat on her bed, typing on her laptop. Her blonde hair falling over her shoulders onto the dark grey shirt of her brother's that she was wearing. Her oldest brother Dean had been gone for four months now, after selling his soul for her other brother Sam.

Kate had always been close to both of her brothers. They had hunted evil together pretty much all of their lives, and although her family may have been slightly more dysfunctional that most, they had always had each others backs. The three of them had been happy, all up until the night that Dean had been dragged to hell. After that things had changed. Kate had become consumed with her own grief while her brother Sam had been acting strangely, going off in the middle of the night and coming back hours later like nothing had happened, claiming he'd just 'gone out for a drink' or something. She'd never believed him but she'd never pressed it. She figured whatever it was he was doing all that time was just his way of dealing with the loss of his big brother.

A loud knocking on the door of her motel room pulled her from her thoughts. She slowly placed the laptop down on the bed and picked up her knife from the side table. She took a breath before pulling open the door, not at all prepared for the sight that met her eyes. Dean. Her oldest brother standing there looking at her, usual cocky smirk plastered over his face. "Hey Kate." He said with a smile. "You miss me?"

Her mouth opened and closed, no words coming out. She stared at him for a minute, trying to work through the shock of what was happening. "Dean?" The only word she could manage to breath out.

"Yeah sis, it's me."

Kate lunged her knife at him but he was too quick for her. He managed to snatch the knife from her hand and tried to grab a hold of her but she jumped backwards and punched him in the face. "Jesus Christ, I can't even see." He mumbled, holding his nose and blinking hard. "Damn it Kate, will you just calm down?!"

"Who the hell are you?! Or, what are you?"

"I'm Dean. Your brother. Kate, I swear it's me." He pleaded with her.

"Yeah right. You're a shapeshifter or a demon or something."

"No, look." He lifted his sleeve and cut a line across his arm, drawing blood. "Silver knife, see? I'm me."

Kate backed away from him slowly before turning and breaking into a run across the room. Dean slammed the door closed behind himself and followed her. She grabbed a small black flask from the side and whipped around, throwing the contents in Dean's face. He looked at her blankly and wiped a hand down his wet face. "For the last time sis, I'm not a demon."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Dean?"

He nodded and sighed. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

A sob escaped her as she took a step forwards and threw her arms around him tightly, bursting into tears. He gladly accepted the hug, pulling her closer to him to try and calm her down, resting his cheek against the top of her head. He held her until she'd stopped crying but she didn't let go of him for a few minutes. She eventually pulled away from him and looked up at him. "Are you okay?" She asked him, the concern clear in her voice.

He smiled at her and nodded. "I'm alright."

She let out another sob as she ran a hand over her head and nodded. "God, I missed you so much Dean."

"Yeah, I missed you too." He said quietly.

She smiled at him. He'd missed her smile, all that time in hell had almost made him forget how much she looked like their mother, especially when she smiled. "So you want a beer?" She said with a slight laugh.

"Sounds great." He smiled, tears shining in his own eyes.

They sat down at the small table in the corner of the room with their beers. "So how'd you get out?" She asked him.

"Well that's what I was gonna ask you.. You telling me you had nothing to do with it?"

"What? No.. I tried Dean, I swear I tried. But I couldn't do it. You were stuck in hell all that time and I couldn't save you." She could feel herself on the verge of tears again, the sudden guilt coming to her that she hadn't been able to save her brother from hell.

"Hey, it's okay. It wasn't your fault." He told her calmly, suddenly feeling guilty for bringing it up. He could clearly see in her face the amount of pain she had been through the last few months. "What about Sam?"

"What about him?"

"Well if it wasn't you that brought me back, really that only leaves Sam. You think he could have?"

"Yeah, I guess so.. He's been pretty messed up himself."

"Hey where is Sam anyway? You guys are still together right?" He looked concerned, like he was anxious of the answer. She thought about it carefully, whether or not to tell him the truth. She didn't know how to say it. 'Oh yeah Dean, we're still together but only the times he isn't sneaking around behind my back doing something which is obviously so bad he can't tell his own sister'. Yeah, that would go down great. He'd been out of hell a couple of hours at the most and he was already having family problems. "Kate? You okay?" Dean asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry." She said, snapping out of her thoughts. "Yeah, we're still hunting together. He's just out doing some research." She lied, she had no idea where he'd gone or what he was doing.

"Same old Sammy right?" He laughed.

"Yeah.."

"What were you hunting here anyway?"

"Nothing especially, we tracked some demons up here. We were looking for them."

"Oh. So.. Are you okay? I saw Bobby earlier, he said you'd been a bit of a mess lately."

Kate didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. "What did he say exactly?"

"Just that you were a mess. No details."

"The last few months weren't exactly fun Dean. For any of us." It came out slightly harsher than she'd intended it to.

"Right, sorry." He answered quickly, getting the hint that she didn't want to talk about it.

"We're okay. It's gonna be okay." She wasn't exactly sure on whether she was trying to convince him or herself.

Dean looked at her carefully. He could see that she had something on her mind, something that she wasn't telling him. His eyes scanned over her, she looked much skinnier than he had remembered. And tired, she had dark circles under her slightly bloodshot eyes which stood out against her unusually pale skin. He realised how unhealthy she really looked. She clearly hadn't been taking as much care of herself as she should have been. Dean made himself a mental note to talk to her about that at some point soon. He noticed something else, on her wrist. A black line that looked like a tattoo. It was mostly covered by her sleeve but it looked like part of a word. "What's that?" He asked her curiously.

"What's what?" She followed his eyes to her wrist and glanced at the tattoo. "Oh, that.."

She pulled her sleeve up further and held out her arm towards him. On her wrist facing towards her was a single word. Dean. She'd had his name tattooed on herself. He couldn't help but feel touched but at the same time seriously concerned about how much pain she'd actually been through while he had been gone. "When did you do this?"

"Couple of months ago. I'd been sitting in this bar, just thinking and.. I dunno. I just did it."

He took her hand in his and held it tight. "It's gonna be okay, sis. I'm not going anywhere again. I promise."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both of them looking up when the motel door swung open. Sam walked in and stopped, looking between them, his eyes wide. "Hey Sammy."

Sam looked at him in shock. He grabbed a knife and ran at him. Dean blocked the attack and pushed him away. "Who are you?!" Sam shouted at him.

"Like you didn't do this?!"

"Do what?"

Kate walked up to Sam and grabbed the knife from his hand. "Sammy, it's him. It's Dean."

Sam stared at him in disbelief. Dean shrugged and gave him a slight smile. "I know. I look fantastic, huh?"

He took a step towards Dean and pulled him into a close hug, Dean returning it with just as much force. Kate looked on at them and smiled. When they pulled back, Dean looked at Sam seriously. "So tell me.. What did it cost?" He asked his brother in a low voice.

Sam glanced over at Kate who stood with her arms folded. "What did what cost?" He asked, looking confused.

"To bring me back. What did it cost?" Dean asked him again. "Was it just your soul or something worse?"

"You think I made a deal?"

"That's exactly what we think." Kate said to him.

Sam now looked angry. "Well, I didn't."

"Don't lie to me." Dean told him intently.

"I'm not lying." Sam answered him defensively.

Dean took a step towards him, closing the gap between them. "So what, now I'm off the hook and you're on, is that it? You're some demon's bitch boy? I didn't wanna be saved like this Sam!"

"Look, I wish I had done it alright?" He said angrily.

Dean grabbed a hold of the front of Sam's shirt. "Well I didn't drag myself out and Kate didn't do it. That only leaves you. There's no other way that this could have gone down Sam. Now tell the truth!"

Sam pushed Dean off him. "I tried everything. That's the truth. I tried opening the Devil's Gate. Hell I tried to bargain, Dean, but no demon would deal, all right? You were rotting in Hell for months. And I couldn't stop it. So I'm sorry it wasn't me. Dean, I'm sorry.." He trailed off, his voice growing quieter.

He suddenly saw his little brother for the first time since he'd walked in through the motel door. He looked sad and broken, just like his sister had done. "It's okay Sammy. It's okay." He said softly. "You don't have to apologise, I believe you."

The three of them stood in silence for a couple of minutes until Kate spoke up. "Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm glad Sam still has full ownership of his soul but it does leave a tricky question."

They both looked at her. "If neither of you pulled me out.. What did?"

"I say we call Bobby." Sam suggested.

"I'll do it." Kate offered, walking outside of the room. Dean hadn't seemed to notice but Sam knew she had offered to so he and Dean could have a few minutes alone together.

"It's good to have you back Dean." Sam said to him quietly.

"You know Sammy, it's kind of nice to be back."

Sam laughed. "Hey, you'll probably want this back." He pulled out a necklace from under his shirt. Dean looked confused until he recognised it as his own amulet. Sam pulled it over his head and placed it gently into his brother's hand.

"Thanks Sammy." He smiled at him warmly.

"Yeah.. Don't mention it." Dean slipped the amulet easily over his head, feeling better having the familiar weight around his neck. "Hey Dean, what was it like?" He asked curiously.

"What, hell? I don't know I must have blacked it out. I don't remember a damn thing."

Sam nodded at him. "Well, thank God for that."

"Yeah.." Dean mumbled.

Kate walked back through the motel door. "Bobby said that he knows a psychic a couple of towns over from here. He said he'd meet us there so we can crash here tonight and then leave tomorrow."

Dean smiled. "Sounds like a plan.. Well, I'm kinda hungry so how about you two go and pick up some food while I have a shower?" He said as he walked to the bathroom, slamming the door closed.

Kate grabbed her bag and pulled out some money before turning to Sam who shrugged at her. The two of them walked out of the room together and made their way to the nearest diner. As they crossed the street, Kate looked up at Sam. "Did he say anything to you?" She asked.

"Nothing.. Says he doesn't remember anything. I guess that's some good news?"

Kate nodded. "I hope he's okay. I can't lose him again Sam."

"Hey, listen to me. He's gonna be fine. He's out now, he's not going back. We're all gonna be okay." He said as he put an arm around her.

"Yeah, I know." She smiled at him before entering the diner.

Back at the motel, Dean stepped out of the shower and dressed. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror and looked at himself. He stared at the face looking back at him and blinked hard. He remembered himself screaming, terrified. He heard voices realising Sam and Kate must have come back already. He glanced at himself once more before putting on his best 'everything's fine' face and leaving the bathroom.

They both turned and smiled at him as he walked into the room, wearing some sweat pants and a t-shirt. "Double bacon cheeseburger." His sister said as she threw a bag at him.

He sat down and smiled. "Oh baby, I've missed you."

"Wouldn't it be cute if he was talking to me and not the burger?" Kate said, Sam laughing at them.

"Awh, you know I love you too sis." Dean smirked, stealing one of her fries.

"Hey!" She grinned, throwing a wrapper at his head.

Sam looked down as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the text message with a sigh. He knew who it was from, not that he could tell Dean or Kate. They wouldn't understand. Not yet anyway. "Hey, I think I might go for a walk for a while." He said.

Kate narrowed her eyes at him. He was pretty sure that sooner or later she was going to have to explain to Dean that these 'walks' were becoming more and more frequent. But that was something he'd have to deal with when it happened. "You okay?" Dean asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good." He answered. "I'll see you later." He turned and grabbed his jacket before walking out of the door.

Kate stood up and stretched before taking off the baggy shirt of Dean's she had over her vest top. Dean couldn't help but notice that she was way thinner than he'd realised. She definitely hadn't been eating enough. "I'm gonna have a shower." She muttered, walking to the bathroom and closing the door, with a little more force than Dean thought was needed. He sat there and looked from the front door to the bathroom door. Something was definitely up with her and Sam. He knew he'd have to find out soon.

He waited until he was sure that she was in the shower before walking out of the room and calling Bobby. _"Hello?" _A gruff voice asked.

"Hey Bobby, it's Dean."

_"Everything alright kid?"_

"Uh, yeah.. I just wanted to ask you something about Kate."

_"What about her? She okay?"_

"Earlier when you said she'd been a mess, what did you mean?"

_"You gotta understand boy, she's had a rough time lately. She wasn't eating at all unless someone made her. She barely slept. Sam went off somewhere, I still don't know where, and she went off on her own looking for Lilith. When she couldn't find her, she just hunted constantly. I had calls off hunters telling me they'd seen her around.. She was reckless, like she didn't care if she came out of it in once piece or not. She drank, a lot. She was in a bad place Dean."_

"Where was Sam in all this? He should've been looking after her."

_"He was a mess too Dean."_

"Yeah.. Well listen, I should go, thanks."

_"Yeah, anytime. And look after your brother and sister. And yourself, idjit."_

He smiled weakly. "Bye Bobby." Dean hung up the phone and sighed as he walked back inside the motel room.

He dropped onto his bed and waited for Kate to come out of the bathroom. A few minutes later she walked into the room with damp hair, baggy pajama pants and a white t-shirt. "You alright?" He asked her softly.

"Great. Why wouldn't I be?" She smiled. It was a fake smile. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference but he had practically raised her and Sam. There wasn't much he didn't know about them.

"It's just.. I was talking to Bobby and he said you haven't really been yourself lately."

"What?"

"Like the drinking Kate. And the not sleeping or the reckless hunting. I mean you're obviously not eating enough, look at you.."

"I don't need this Dean." She turned her back to him and pretended to be looking for something in her bag.

"Kate please.. I just wanna help you."

"I told you. I'm fine. I don't need any help." She said, slightly harsher than she'd meant to.

"Kate.." He pressed gently. "Please, talk to me."

She sighed and turned around to face him. Her usual calm face was gone. She wasn't one for sharing and caring, she was especially like him when it came to things like that. Dean looked at his sister, she looked broken and defeated with unshed tears glistening in her green eyes.

She shook her head and ran a hand over her face. "Look Dean, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, I probably drank too much or got a little too reckless on a few hunts. Or maybe I didn't sleep enough but it's kind of difficult to sleep when you have images of your brother being ripped apart by hellhounds going through your mind every time you close your eyes, ya know.." She walked over to the bed and lay down next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder as he put an arm around her in a protective way, holding her until they both fell asleep.

He woke a few hours later to the sound of the bathroom door closing. Sam's jacket was on the other bed, he'd only just come back at 3AM. Something was definitely not right. He glanced down at his sister who was still sleeping, her sleeve had pushed up on her shirt, revealing a series of what looked to be deep gashes going across her arm just below the middle. He ran his thumb over them and sighed. "What're you doing Kate?" He whispered.

Sam came out of the bathroom and looked at Dean. "You just got in?" Dean asked him.

"Yeah, I uh.. stopped for a few beers." He was clearly not drunk and so couldn't have had that much to drink.

"Sure." Dean muttered before closing his eyes again and going back to sleep.

Dean jolted awake, painful images of himself screaming going through his mind. Thankfully, the room was empty so no one had noticed. Someone was in the shower and there was a note on the table between the two beds. He reached over and picked it up.

Morning losers, gone to get coffee, back in a few. Love Kate. :)

Dean smiled and rolled out of bed. That obviously meant Sam was the one occupying the shower. He looked up at the door as Kate walked in, it looked pretty bright outside to say it was only 7AM in the middle of September. "Mornin' bedhead." She laughed.

Sure enough, when he walked over to the mirror he saw that his hair was sticking out in all sorts of directions. He smirked to himself and took his black coffee from the tray. "What's that?" He asked, nodding at the bag in her hand.

"I bought you some pie." She said simply.

"Really?" He said skeptically, narrowing his eyes at her. He took the bag from her and looked in, smirking to himself. "I really love you, ya know that?"

"Yeah, yeah." She grinned to herself as she walked towards the bed and sat down.

Sam walked out of the bathroom and looked at them. "Mornin' guys." He said cheerily. "Nice hair." He smirked at Dean.

"Yeah, laugh it up Sammy." He laughed as he walked past Sam towards the bathroom to take a shower.

Sam walked over to Kate who handed him his coffee and breakfast. "Thanks sis." He smiled.

"No problem." She smiled back at him, lightly kicking him in the leg as he walked away. He turned and gave her a fake scowl before sitting down on the opposite bed.

"Aren't you eating?" He asked her, slightly concerned.

"Nah, I'm not hungry. I'll grab something later."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, totally." She grinned at him before standing to pack her bag up before Dean came out of the bathroom and they went to meet Bobby and the psychic.

_Thank you for reading guys! :)_


	2. Chapter 2

Sam, Dean and Kate walked across the parking lot together. Kate smiled to herself, knowing how happy her eldest brother was about to become. "I assume you'll want to drive?" Sam smirked, tossing him a set of keys.

Dean beamed a smile as he looked at his car. "Man I almost forgot.. Hey sweetheart, you miss me?" He said, running his hand lovingly along the side before getting into the driver's seat. Kate smirked at Sam who shook his head in amusement before they followed Dean into the car. They hadn't been in the car for more than a minute before Dean noticed something was wrong. "What the hell is that?" He asked in brother, a horrified look on his face as he pointed to the thing plugged into the front of his car.

"That's an iPod jack." Sam replied simply.

"You were supposed to take care of her, not douche her up." Kate laughed at them. She had in fact told Sam the day he'd put it in that Dean would've hated it but he hadn't listened to her. So instead of listening to the normal rock music she was used to in that car, she'd been listening to Sam's music. Not that she'd really cared. She hadn't really cared about anything lately.

As Dean started the car, Sam's music started playing. Kate smirked at the dirty look that he gave Sam, who innocently shrugged his shoulders at him. "Hey, watch it." She smirked, having to duck out of the way of him throwing the iPod into the back seat.

"Sorry sis." He grinned, winking at her through the rear view mirror. She smiled at him and settled down, trying to get comfy. She thought about trying to grab a couple of hours sleep before they got there, she knew she needed it.

None of them spoke for the first half hour of the drive. "There's still one thing that's bothering me.." Dean said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, what's that?" Sam asked him.

"You know the night that I bit it.. Or got bit." Dean smirked at his own joke. "How'd you two make it out? I thought Lilith was going to kill you."

"She tried. She pinned Kate against a wall, went for me first. But she couldn't."

"What do you mean, she couldn't?" He asked confusedly.

"She fired this like, burning light at me and.. didn't leave a scratch. Like I was immune or something."

"Immune?" Dean asked him, obviously worried.

"Yeah, I don't know who was more surprised, her or me. She left pretty quickly after that."

"Huh.. And what about Ruby? What happened to her?"

"She's dead. Or in hell." Sam answered him quickly.

Watching him, Kate noticed Dean bite his lip as he thought about his next question, not sure about whether he wanted to ask it. "So have you been using your freaky ESP stuff?" He asked eventually.

"No." Sam said flatly.

"You sure about that? Well, I mean, now that you've got immunity or whatever the hell that is.. I'm just wondering what other kind of weirdo crap you've got going on."

"Nothing. Look, you didn't want me to go down that road so I didn't go down that road. It was practically your dying wish."

Dean looked into the back seat in the mirror at Kate, who avoided eye contact with him. "Well, let's keep it that way." He muttered.

Sam skulked back down into his seat as Dean turned on the radio, attempting to cover the awkward silence that his last question had created. The rest of the journey went pretty fast, Dean singing along to the odd line of Metallica whilst Sam told him to turn it down every time he turned it up. It was just like old times.

They left the psychic's house a few hours after they had done a séance, revealing the name of Dean's rescuer as Castiel. Sam climbed into the car and sighed heavily. "So what now?" He asked, looking between them.

Dean turned in his seat to look at Kate. "You told me you were tracking some demons up around here right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I say we find them. Someone has to know something about something." They both nodded as Dean started the car, driving the rest of the way in silence.

Dean pulled up outside an old diner. He and Kate headed inside while Sam hung back outside on the phone with Bobby. They took a seat at the back of the deserted room while a waitress walked towards them. "What you having?" She smiled at Kate.

"Nothing, I'm fine thanks." Kate offered a weak smile.

"Kate, you have to eat." Dean said to her sternly.

"Dean I said I'm fine, really. I'll grab something later." He gave her an unconvinced nod before ordering for himself and Sam.

"You haven't eaten since last night." He said to her quietly.

"I'm just not hungry, it's not a big deal." She muttered, looking up as Sam sat down with them.

"Bobby found anything?" Dean asked him.

"Nope, so we still have no clue who busted your ass out." He said glumly.

"That's not entirely true.. We got a name. You know, with the right stuff we could summon him. Bring him right to us."

"You're crazy. Absolutely not."

"Why not?" He frowned.

"Dean, don't you get how dangerous that could be?"

"You got a better idea?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. We're supposed to be looking for some demons in town right? Let's just find them and see what they know before we do something stupid like that."

Dean opened his mouth to argue but stopped himself as the waitress sat down at the table with them. Dean smirked at her. "You angling for a tip?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you were looking for us." She said, her eyes flashing black. A man who was sitting at the counter stood up and locked the door, standing in front of it. "Dean, to hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck." Dean just stared at her. "So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me. What makes you so special?"

"I like to think it's because of my perky nipples." Sam shook his head, if they weren't dead before, they were dead now. "I don't know. Wasn't my doing, I don't know who pulled me out."

"Lying's a sin, you know."

"I'm not lying. But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo-"

"Mind your tone with me, boy. I'll drag you back to hell myself." She warned.

Sam shifted at the threat towards his brother, waiting to attack. Dean held up a hand telling him to chill before glaring at the demon. "No you wont. Because if you were you 'd have done it already. Fact is, you don't know who cut me loose. And you're just as spooked as we are. And you're looking for answers. Well, maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit. Or, uh, Godzilla. Or some big bad boss demon. I'm guessing at your pay grade that they don't tell you squat. Because whoever it was, they want me out. And they're a lot stronger than you. So go ahead. Send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with some Vaseline and a fire hose." Kate couldn't help but smirk at that.

"I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs."

Dean leaned forwards and slapped her around the face, Kate flinching at the sound. He did it again but she said nothing. "That's why I thought." He muttered as they stood up and made their way towards the door. They walked outside into the sun without looking back. "Holy crap, that was close." Dean shook his head.

"We're not just going to leave them in there are we Dean?" Sam asked impatiently.

"Well yeah, there were four of them, probably more, and we've only got one knife between us."

"I've been killing a lot more demons than that lately." Kate glanced at him but he looked away, Dean pretended not to notice they obvious tension between them.

"Well, not anymore." Dean commented lightly. "The smarter brother's back in town."

"Dean, we've got to take 'em. They're dangerous."

"They're scared. Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad mofo here. One job at a time." Sam sighed and carried on walking, not mentioning it again.

They made their way towards the nearest motel and walked into the small reception room to find an old woman sitting at the desk. Dean walked over to her and smiled. "One room please."

She looked him up and down before turning her attention to Sam and Kate who were standing in the doorway, having a heated debate over some movie they'd seen. "I don't have a room with three beds. It's either a king or two queens." She said flatly.

"Two queens then." He said simply.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't want anything funny from you three."

"What?" He asked with a frown.

"I've had your kind here before. You're all trouble makers. Loud music, parties and such. Don't even think about it."

Dean's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. He was also pretty sure that his brother and sister were doing everything they could to hold their laughter behind him since their argument had stopped and they were obviously listening intently, probably not making them look any better to the woman. He took the key from her and walked outside. "Sounds like you've made a friend there Dean, will she be sharing your queen?" Sam smirked at him.

"Shut it you." Dean said as Kate and Sam laughed at him.

Once they got into their room, Kate took a seat on one of the beds and fell asleep almost immediately. Dean was pretty sure that apart from the few hours she'd gotten the night before, she hadn't had a good nights sleep in at least a week or so. He sighed and dropped onto the couch, picking up a book to begin their research into what could have pulled him from hell, not even noticing when Sam left the room to have a shower.

Twenty minutes later, Sam came out of the bathroom to find Dean on the couch with a book on his knee and Kate lying on one of the beds, both fast asleep. He waited a few minutes until he was convinced that they were both properly asleep before he quietly opened the door and sneaked out of the room. It had become a regular thing for him to do lately, sneaking out almost every night for a few hours before coming back. He was pretty sure that Kate knew he was out most times, she had asked him about it a couple of times but he'd never told her anything. She wouldn't understand. And now that Dean was back, there was no way he'd be able to tell them.

Dean woke to a strange sound. He blinked open his eyes to see the tv flickering with static before the radio came on. "Couple of hours sleep, is that too much to ask?" He muttered to himself as he jumped off the couch and moved quickly towards Kate, shaking her shoulder. "Kate, wake up. Something's coming." She sat up and looked around the room, taking the shotgun that Dean held out to her.

She glanced at Sam's bed, realising he'd gone. Again. A painfully high-pitched sound echoed throughout the room. They both dropped to their knees, covering their ears in pain. Dean looked up to see that the mirror on the ceiling had begun to crack. Broken glass was falling down all around them, he moved towards Kate and grabbed hold of her to try and sheild her from it. All the glass in the room shattered over them.

They both looked up as the door banged open, Bobby running inside. "You need to get out." He shouted at them. He ran over and grabbed Kate around the arm, pulling her towards the door. She looked back and grabbed a hold of Dean's hand, pulling him with them. The three of them ran out of the room and into the parking lot.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Bobby said to them. They both nodded and followed Bobby to his truck. He handed them both a cloth to wipe the blood from their faces. "How you doing?" He asked them after a few minutes of driving.

"Aside from the church bells ringing in my head, peachy." Dean muttered, turning to Kate. "You alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. What the hell was that?"

"I heard it before, right after I got out of hell.. The gas station I was in."

Bobby looked at him. "Wait, you're saying that was the thing you heard right after hell?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Bit of a coincidence don't you think? Hearing it twice in two days."

"You think it had something to do with whatever yanked me out?" Dean looked down at Kate who shrugged at him.

"Could be."

"Huh. Where do you suppose Sam got to?" Dean asked, more to himself than anyone else, as he dialed Sam's number.

_"Hello?"_

"What are you doing Sam?"

_"Couldn't sleep, went to get a burger."_

"In my car?"

_"Force of habit, sorry."_

"Well Bobby's back so we're going to get a beer." Bobby and Kate both looked up at Dean who held up a hand to keep them quiet.

_"Okay, well spill some for me then yeah?"_

"Will do, see you later." He said as he hung up the phone and shoved it into his jacket.

"Why'd you lie to him?" Kate asked him.

"Because he'd just try to stop us."

Kate rose her eyebrows. "From what?"

"Summoning this thing."

"What the hell Dean?" She shook her head. "You can't be serious."

"As a heart attack."

Bobby looked over at him. "She's right Dean. We don't know what this thing is. It could be anything."

"That's why we've got to be ready for anything. We've got the big-time magic knife, you've got an arsenal in the trunk."

Bobby looked down at Kate who shrugged. "This is a bad idea." He muttered.

"Yeah, tell me about it. But what other choice do we have?"

"We could choose life?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it's after me. That much we know, right? I've got no place to hide. I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can make our stand."

"Maybe we could use Sam on this." Kate said quietly.

"Nah, he's better off where he is." None of them said anything else about it. Dean would summon this thing with or without their help, they knew that. Bobby pulled up outside an abandoned warehouse and climbed out of the car.

He and Kate were finishing drawing symbols on the wall of the old warehouse they were planning to use for the summoning. Dean was standing at a table sorting out their weapons. "That's one hell of an art project you guys have going on." He smirked.

"Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe. How you doin?" Bobby asked.

"Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife. I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."

"This is still a bad idea."

"Yeah Bobby, I heard you the first ten times." He muttered. "Shall we get on with it?"

Bobby nodded and walked towards another table to begin the summoning spell. Dean glanced over at Kate and smiled slightly. He took a step towards her and squeezed her shoulder. "You alright? You look nervous."

"I'm good." She smiled lightly.

When Bobby finished the summoning ritual the three of them sat there and waited. Ten minutes passed without anything happening. "You sure you did the ritual right?" Dean asked, earning him a glare from Bobby. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?"

There was a loud rattling above them as the roof slates banged. "Wishful thinking but maybe it's just the wind?" Dean said to them. A tall man with brown hair and bright blue eyes banged through the door of the warehouse and began walking towards them. The banging continued as the lightbulbs all smashed. The man was wearing a suit and trench coat. They opened fire on the man with their shotguns but nothing happened. He got closer to them and stopped, looking straight at Dean. "Who are you?" Dean asked him.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." He stated simply.

"Yeah, thanks for that." He muttered, lunging the demon killing knife into his chest and stepping backwards from him. Kate shared a worried look with Dean as he pulled the knife out of his chest and dropped it to the floor. He took a step towards Bobby and touched his head, causing him to fall down unconscious. Kate took a step towards him but the man stepped in front of her. She stared him in the face until Dean took her hand and pulled her towards him. "Don't you even think about it." He warned him.

"We need to talk Dean, alone." He vanished in front of them, reappearing beside Kate before raising a hand to her head. That was the last thing she remembered before she hit the ground in front of him.

Kate opened her green eyes to the worried face of her brother. "You good?" He asked her, the concern clear in his voice.

She blinked hard and nodded. "I'm good." She said as he pulled her to her feet, keeping a hand wrapped around her arm.

The three of them went to meet Sam before heading back to Bobby's house where Dean explained everything that Castiel had said to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Kate, Dean and Sam had been staying at Bobby's for the past three nights, researching whether or not Castiel really could be an angel. Kate didn't manage to get much sleep and so she was awake to hear her brother start to talk in his sleep. He was tossing and turning, mumbling things that she couldn't understand. He had been having these nightmares every time he slept and she was starting to get pretty freaked out by them. She did the same thing as she had done all the other times this had happened, she sat on the edge of his bed and placed a hand gently on his cheek. He seemed to calm down when she was there. She sat there with him for a while until he was sleeping peacefully again.

Deciding that she didn't want to wake her brother she left the room quietly, glancing at Sam's empty bed sadly as she passed. He was going off somewhere practically every night now. Every time she heard him get out of bed, thinking that she was sleeping, she'd thought about following him. She wanted to know what was going on. She wanted to help her brother but she didn't know how. Sam wouldn't tell her what he was doing and she didn't want to cause an argument between them.

She was sitting at the kitchen table when she heard someone walking up behind her. "What are you doing up?" It was Dean. His voice was soft but he sounded tired.

She looked up as he walked further into the room. "Couldn't sleep." She said quietly. "You?"

"Me either." He began making himself a cup of coffee. "You want another one?" He asked, glancing at her almost empty cup.

"Sure." She gave him a small smile. He made the coffee for them but took a long drink of whiskey from a bottle on the side before sitting down with his. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Kate glanced up at him. "I know Dean." She said to him after a while.

Dean frowned in confusion. "You know what?"

"I know you remember. The nightmares and the drinking, Dean. I'm not stupid. There isn't a lot you can hide from someone you spend practically twenty-four hours a day with."

"Kate.." Dean sighed, trying to think of the right answer.

"Look you don't have to tell me, I'm not going to ask you to tell me about it if that's not what you want. But I need you to know, I'm here for you if you need anything. When you need to talk, if you need to talk.. I'll be here."

Dean nodded at her. He appreciated that she wanted to help and it felt slightly better that someone knew about it but he couldn't talk about it. Not to her. Not to Sam.. Not yet anyway.

He looked at her, her face was still pale with dark circles under her eyes. "Kate?"

"Yeah?"

He thought carefully about his next question. "The other night, I kinda noticed something.. On your arm."

She looked away from him. "What?"

He reached out for her arm and pushed her sleeve up, properly showing the series of deep gashes. "How'd they happen?"

"It was a hunt a few weeks back, no big deal." She smiled at him. He looked at her carefully, not sure on whether he believed her or not. He could see that something was still bothering her, she still wasn't eating properly and he knew she wasn't getting much sleep.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Kate stood up. "I'm gonna go to bed, try getting some sleep Dean." She gave him a quick hug before making her way to the kitchen door.

"Hey Kate?" He called after her.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

She smiled at him again. "Night Dean." She walked out of the room and went upstairs.

Dean sighed heavily. Sam was out almost every night now, he wanted to talk to him about it but he didn't know how. Kate didn't seem to know what was going on with him either. He decided that he would wait up for him, that tonight would be the night he found out where he had been sneaking off to all this time but he fell asleep at the kitchen table before Sam got back.

Sam sighed sadly as he walked into the kitchen, finding Dean asleep at the table, a bottle of whiskey loosely gripped in his hand. Dean continued to claim that he didn't remember hell but Sam wasn't all that convinced. He knew that Dean had caught onto the fact that he was sneaking around and that it was only a matter of time before he was in for questioning from one or both of them about it. He didn't have a clue how he was going to explain that he was hanging around with Ruby. That would definitely piss off Dean. Or that he was using his powers again. That would piss him off even more.

He already knew that Dean would think what he was doing was wrong. Sam wasn't all that sure about it when he'd first started. He had been a mess, grieving for Dean. He had thought he was on the verge of loosing his little sister too due to her own grieving state. He took comfort in the only person who, at the time, seem to have any solution or answers. Ruby. He'd always thought there was something about her that was at least someway decent, even if she was a demon. But that was something his sister, and brother especially, couldn't seem to see. He was saving people again. Even if he was using his powers he knew that he was saving people. Most of the times that he exorcised a demon now, the victim would survive. That was the only reason he was doing it, to help people. He wanted to save people again. Maybe Dean and Kate would understand that. That the powers he had may have come from somewhere dark but he was trying to do good with them. He hoped that they would eventually be able to see that when he had to tell them.

The three of them decided they would stay at Bobby's a couple more nights before moving on to find another job somewhere else. Dean seemed keen to work, like the more he was working the less he was thinking about hell. That night, Dean woke to find Castiel standing in the kitchen. He explained to Dean everything to Dean about why the angels were back. About the angels and the demons and the sixty-six seals. He woke up as Kate walked into the room and handed him a coffee. "You alright?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good." He smiled at her.

"Good, I'm gonna take a shower." She said quietly before making her way upstairs.

Truth was, he wasn't fine at all. His head was killing him and his back was aching from lying on the hard floor all night. He went to his bag and pulled out a bottle of painkillers to find it empty. He groaned and looked at his sister's bag on the table. He checked that she was upstairs before opening it, feeling guilty for going through her bag but he was desperate. There was something in the bottom of the bag that felt like some tablets. "Thank god." He muttered before pulling out the bag of pills that were obviously not painkillers. He frowned at the small plastic bag and went back into her bag to see what else she had in there. There was also a bag of something he recognised as weed. Dean sighed to himself before stuffing both bags into his own pocket and walking away, trying to figure out what to do about them.

He couldn't believe it. He'd been out of hell for less than a week and things were already falling apart. Bobby had practically drank himself to death the past four months. His brother was keeping a bunch of secrets he had yet to find out about and how he'd found out that his baby sister was on drugs. He didn't know what to do. But he knew he had to do something. And soon, before he lost them both.


	4. Chapter 4

Two nights later, Kate woke to someone shaking her violently. "Get in the car." A stern voice told her.

"What..?"

"Kate, get in the car."

She came round slightly as a pair of jeans hit her. "Dean? What's going on?"

"We're going to get Sam. I'll explain everything on the way."

Kate sensed the urgency in Dean's voice, she jumped from the bed and quickly changed into some clothes. They were out of the motel and on the road within three minutes. "What's going on Dean?" Kate asked, doing her best to stay calm.

"Okay, so Castiel showed up again. He sent me back in time, back to when mom was a teenager."

"Why?"

"I don't know, to teach me some lesson about destiny or whatever.. She was the hunter Kate, not dad. She made a deal with the yellow eyed demon to save dad. He came back ten years later and he-" Dean stopped.

"He what?"

"He.. bled in Sam's mouth."

Kate's eyes went wide as she stared at him. "He did what?" She asked, sounding horrified. "Why?"

"I don't know.. Something to do with his demonic army or whatever he had planned."

"Huh.. So how do you know where Sam is?"

"Cas told me. He said we had to stop him, or he would."

"Stop him?" She raised her eyebrows. "Stop him from what?"

"I guess we're about to find out.." He said as he pulled up outside an old warehouse.

The two of them walked up towards the door silently. "You ready." He asked. She nodded at him. Dean took a breath as he pushed open the door, attempting to brace himself for what he might see. The room was dark, there was a man, most likely a demon he thought, tied to a chair in the center of the room. There was a woman with dark hair standing beside their brother. "Tell me about those months without your brother Sam." The guy spat out at him. "About all the things you and this demon bitch do in the dark." Sam looked angry as he raised a hand towards the demon and closed his eyes. Black smoke began to pour out of the demon's mouth until there was none left and it disappeared through the floor in flames.

Kate noticed Dean turn away, unable to watch anymore of what his brother was doing. He looked at his sister, neither knowing what to say. Sam was in the process of pulling the man from the chair when Dean decided that it was time to show his face. He walked into sight, Kate right behind him. "Anything you wanna tell us Sam?" Dean asked him, sounding like he was working on keeping his emotions in check.

Sam looked up at them, the colour draining from his face as a look of horror washed over him. "Dean.. Look, just let me-"

"You're gonna say let me explain?" Dean cut him off. "You're gonna explain this? How about you start with who she is, and what the hell is she doing here?" Dean said, glancing at the woman standing beside Sam.

Sam shifted uncomfortably and looked over at her. She smiled at Dean. "It's good to see you again Dean, Kate."

"Ruby? Is that Ruby?"

Sam didn't answer him. He looked over towards her and sighed. Dean watched her for a few seconds before running at her, pinning her to the wall and pulling out the knife. Sam jumped in and grabbed Dean's arm as he brought the knife down. "Don't!" He yelled at him. The two of them struggled for the knife. Sam managed to pull it from Dean's hand before Dean shoved him hard in the chest. Ruby grabbed Dean and pushed him hard into the wall. "Ruby! Stop it!" Sam warned her.

Ruby glared into Dean's face, refusing to back down. Eventually she pushed off him and backed away. "Well, aren't you an obidient little bitch?" He snarled at her. She shot him a threatening look and turned to Sam.

"Ruby, he's hurt." Sam nodded towards the man still sitting in the devil's trap. She walked over to him and placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling him up and leading him towards the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Dean called after her.

"The ER. Unless you wanna go another round first?"

Dean didn't answer her as she turned and walked the man out of the door, leaving the three of them alone. Sam could see the pure anger in Dean's face. "Dean.." Again, he didn't answer him. He turned to walk towards the door, grabbing Kate around the arm in a tight grip and pulling her out with him.

Dean and Kate got into the car in silence. He pulled up in front of the nearest bar and climbed out. Kate followed him into the bar and moved to sit at a table towards the back of the room while Dean went to the bar. She sat down heavily and sighed, her head in her hands. Dean sat down opposite her, placing two drinks on the table between them. "Did you know?" He asked her blankly.

Kate shook her head. "No.. I knew he was doing something but not this." She said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"How long has he been doing it? The sneaking out?"

"Few months I guess. It started just once or twice every couple of weeks, but then it got more and more often.. I should have talked to him about it or done something but I couldn't.. I let it go too far."

"Hey, this isn't your fault. It's that Ruby bitch. She's poisoned his mind."

"What are we going to do Dean?" She asked him, her voice cracking.

"I don't know." He sighed, feeling lost and defeated. His kid brother, the one he'd always done his best to look after, was messing around with demons. Using powers to exorcise them. It scared the hell out of him. He looked over at Kate, tonight was the night he was getting the answers, he might as well go for it. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about.." He started.

"What?"

"Look before you say anything, I wasn't going through your bag, I was looking for some painkillers." She raised her eyebrows, obviously not having a clue what he was talking about. "I found some stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" She asked curiously.

"Drugs."

Kate nodded and looked down. "Oh."

"Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself? You're on drugs Kate." He shook his head at her. It was as though she didn't even care that he knew. "What the hell's happened to you?"

"What do you want me to say? Yeah, I took some stuff.. End of."

Dean sighed. "You could at least tell me what is was. The pills."

She sat back in her seat, refusing to look at him. "They kept me awake." She told him simply. "Every time I slept all I saw was you, dying. I couldn't take it anymore Dean. So I stopped sleeping. Seemed like the easiest solution at the time.. Back then I didn't really care anymore, I just wanted it to stop. The nightmares, all of it."

"Jesus Kate, no wonder you have no freaking appetite anymore. And the pot? What's that about huh?" He studied her face, she did look genuinely ashamed of herself now.

She finally looked up at him, seeing the pain and concern written all over his face. "It helped calm me down. When I got worked up over a job or frustrated trying to find Lilith or worried about Sam.. It just helped me not to care anymore. Felt good for a while."

"Well listen to me, it stops now. All of it. You hear me? You're going to end up killing yourself. Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah.."

"Promise me Kate." He said sternly.

"I promise."

"Good."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Kate looked up at him. "Hey Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you saw mom.. What was she like?"

Dean looked up at her and thought back. "She was awesome." He smiled. "You look just like her." She smiled and nodded before Dean went on to explain everything that had happened to him.

They didn't really talk much for the rest of the night, neither having much to say to the other. By the time morning came, they were still sitting in the bar. "We're gonna have to face him sooner or later Dean. You can't hide out here forever." Kate said to him softly.

"Yeah, I know.. I'm just not sure I want to know what he's gonna say."

Kate nodded and stood up with a sigh. The drive to the motel was quick, quicker than either of them liked. Dean now looked angry again, he stormed from the car, slamming the door behind himself and marching towards the motel. He stopped outside the door and looked down at Kate. "Listen to me, you get your stuff and we're leaving."

"Dean, we can't just bail on him. We need to at least talk about this."

"No." He said flatly. "If he wants to screw around with all that demonic shit that's fine, but we're not having anything to do with it."

She opened her mouth to argue with him but he'd already banged through the door and began shoving clothes into both of their bags. Sam stood up and walked towards him..


	5. Chapter 5

Kate opened her mouth to argue with him but he'd already banged through the door and began shoving clothes into both of their bags. Sam stood up and walked towards him. "Dean, what are you doing?" Dean ignored him completely and carried on packing. Sam looked towards Kate who was leaning against the door, staring at the floor with tears in her eyes. He looked back towards Dean. "What, are you leaving?"

Dean stopped for a second and looked towards him. "You don't need us. You and Ruby go fight demons." He muttered as he picked up both of their bags and made his way to the door.

Sam stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm, pulling him around to face him. "Hold on. Dean, come on man." Dean punched him hard in the face. Sam took a breath and looked back to his brother. "You satisfied?" Dean punched him again, harder, and threw the bags to the floor with a loud thud. When he faced his brother, his lip was bleeding. "Guess not." He muttered.

"Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal? From human?!"

"I'm just exorcising demons." He said defensively.

"With your mind!" He shouted, taking a breath and calming his voice. "What else can you do?"

"I can send them back to hell. It only works with demons, and that's it."

Dean grabbed a hold of his shirt and pushed him backwards. "What else can you do?!" He demanded.

"I told you!" Sam pushed his brother in the chest.

"And I have every reason in the world to believe that." The pain was clear in Dean's words.

"Look, I should have said something. I'm sorry Dean, I am. But try and see the other side?"

"The other side?"

"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."

"Use the knife!"

"The knife kills the victim, what I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year!"

Dean scoffed. "That what Ruby wants you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" Sam didn't answer him. "Slippery slope brother, just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and god knows where it ends."

"I'm not gonna let it go too far."

Dean smiled at that and turned his back on him, hitting a lamp across the table. He turned to face him again, looking angrier than ever. "It's already gone too far Sam.. If I didn't know you, I would wanna hunt you." She looked up with tears glistening in his eyes. Even Kate thought that was especially harsh. "And so would other hunters." He finished quietly.

"You were gone, I was here. I had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing.. It works."

''Well, tell me. If it's so terrific... then why'd you lie about it to us?'' Sam didn't answer him. ''Why did an angel tell me to stop you?''

"What?"

''Cas said that if we don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me everything is all good?''

The two of them stared at each other for a couple of minutes, tears in their eyes. They both jumped as the motel door slammed closed, realising that their sister had waked out. They ran to the door, watching as the Impala pulled out of the motel parking lot. Dean looked up at Sam and shook his head at him.

Kate drove angrily. She didn't know where she was headed but she knew she was pissed. She pulled up outside the warehouse they'd been at the night before, ignoring the constant phone calls from Dean and climbing out of the car. She grabbed some things out of the trunk and made her way inside. It was empty, the devils trap still in the middle of the room but no sign of Ruby. Kate got down to her knees and drew a symbol on the floor before setting a fire and reading a summoning ritual in latin. Sure enough, when she had finished Ruby appeared behind her. "Kate Winchester, two visits in twenty-four hours, I'm touched."

"Shut up." She said flatly, turning to face her. "What do you want with him?"

"Who? Sam?"

"Yeah. What are you trying to do huh? Brainwash him into leading your demonic army or whatever?"

"No, nothing like that.. I'm just helping him put his talents to good use." Kate rolled her eyes. "You see I listen to him, unlike you and your pig-headed brother."

"Yeah right, you're up to something, I know it."

"Oh you do huh?" Ruby took a step forwards and glared at her. "And what exactly are you going to do about it?"

Kate looked at her carefully before taking a step back and swinging her fist around to Ruby's jaw, sending her to the ground. She stood up and kicked Kate in the stomach, before punching her in the face. Kate composed herself and pulled the knife from the back of her jeans, stepping towards Ruby who backed away slowly. "You little slut. You wouldn't dare."

Kate smirked at her. "Try me."

She was about to lunge for Ruby when she heard a bang behind her. They both turned around quickly to see Sam and Dean running towards them. "Kate, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing Sam?" She asked him sarcastically. "Really?"

"Alright, let's just calm down. Kate, give me the knife."

"What?" She asked defensively. "No."

"I'm not asking you."

Kate raised her eyebrows at him. "You've got to be kidding me, you're actually going to stand there and protect the demon.." She shook her head and breathed out a small laugh. "You know, I thought maybe I'd be able to understand what you were doing, that maybe you hadn't completely lost your mind. But the fact that you're actually standing there defending a demon. What happened to you Sam?" He looked down, not giving her an answer. Kate pointed the knife at Ruby and glared at her. "This isn't over Ruby." She dropped the knife at Sam's feet and turned to walk away. "Bye Sam." She said as she walked away, not looking back.

As the door slammed closed, Dean turned to Sam. "You see what you're doing Sammy, nothing good can come out of this. So I'm asking you, please, just stop it." He gave him one last look before also turning to leave.

He walked outside and joined his sister who was leaning against the front of his car. "Are you pissed at me?" She asked as he stood beside her.

"No, I'm irritated you went off and tried to kill her without me, but no. I'm not."

"What are we gonna do Dean? I don't want to lose him. You two are all I've got.."

"Hey, we are not going to lose him Kate." He sighed and put an arm around her, letting her lean her head against his shoulder. "He may have gone off the rails a bit but he will get better. I promise. Everything's gonna be fine."

The next morning, Kate woke to the sound of the motel door closing. She could clearly hear her brother's voices through the thin wall. "So what do you wanna talk about?" She heard Sam ask.

"Alright, there's some stuff that I didn't wanna have to say to you in front of Kate, so listen up.. I don't really care what you do with Ruby to be honest, it's your life, do whatever."

"Dean-"

Dean ignored him and continued. "But when it comes to her, I do care what you do.. She needed you Sam. And you were too busy banging your hell bitch to notice."

"Dean what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Kate. The drinking, the hunting.. She's hardly been sleeping and you only have to look at her to see she hasn't been eating." They were both silent for a minute. "Did you know she was cutting herself?"

"What?" The shock was clear in his voice. Kate looked down at her arms and sighed. She hated that Dean knew about it, she hated that he put it on himself.

"And she's.." Dean trailed off.

"She's what?" Sam asked, concern growing in his voice.

"She's been taking drugs, Sam."

"Oh god.."

"Yeah, she needed you. Where the hell were you?" He asked him harshly. "Fix it Sam. Or I swear, you won't see her again."

Kate was still listening from where she sat in bed. It was bad enough that Dean knew about the cutting and the drugs, but now Sam knew too. She knew Dean didn't mean what he was saying, he was just upset about Ruby, but either way she didn't like where this conversation was going at all. She knew she needed to step in before one of them, most likely Dean, said something they would seriously regret later on. She walked towards the door and stepped outside.

"Mornin' guys." She smiled.

"Hey." They both greeted her.

"So.. Who wants breakfast?" She asked lightly.

"I'll go." Sam offered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I won't be long." He patted her on the arm before turning and walking off down the street.

Kate turned to her brother. "Slightly harsh don't you think?"

"Whatever. He needed to hear it."

"Dean, he was in a dark place. We both did stuff in those four months that we regret."

"A bit of pot's not the same as screwing with demons, Kate."

"I know."

He looked at her and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I told him okay. And about the cutting. I was just pissed at him for not being around."

"It's not your fault Dean." She said softly.

"You've stopped right?"

"Yeah, I promise you." He nodded in slight relief and gave her a smile before he sat down at the small table, waiting for Sam to get back.

Sam walked into the room and looked between his brother and sister. "Guys listen, I know what I've done upset you and I know that I can't make you understand why I thought I needed to do it but.." He sighed. "I need you to know, that none of it was anything to do with you. And I'm sorry that I've been a pretty crappy brother lately." He said, tears in his eyes.

Kate walked towards him and wrapped her arms around him. "Love you Sammy." She whispered. He smiled and looked towards Dean.

"It's okay Sammy." He walked over and placed a hand of his brother's shoulder. "We're all gonna be alright."


	6. Chapter 6

Sam rolled his eyes as his brother sang along to highway to hell on the radio. "Dude seriously, how do you even have a voice anymore? You've been singing none stop for nearly three hours."

"Awh Sammy, you do not appreciate the finer things. This is a classic."

"Yeah Dean, just like it was the first four times you played it tonight. Wouldn't kill you to play something different every now and then." Sam smirked, waving his iPod at Dean.

"You mean like your crappy music? No. My baby deserves only the best music, not that punk crap you listen to. Don't even think about plugging that thing into my baby ever again."

"I don't listen to punk crap Dean." Sam argued.

"Yeah, sure you do. Right Kate?" He got no response. "Kate?" Dean glanced over his shoulder into the backseat. "I think she's asleep you know."

"Well she always could sleep through your music. God knows I wish I could." Sam smirked, causing Dean to laugh.

They arrived in town the next morning and checked into a motel before heading out to get some breakfast. "So this hunt, should be just a simple salt and burn right?" Dean asked Sam with a mouth full of food.

Sam shot him a disgusted look and nodded. "Yeah Dean. We just need to figure out who the ghost it and destroy the corpse."

"You make it sound so easy." Kate muttered sarcastically. "So where do we start?"

"Well you and Dean are gonna talk to the dead guys girlfriend, I'm gonna head to the library and do some research. Meet you back at the motel later yeah?"

"Cool." She smiled at him as he stood up and walked out, leaving Kate and Dean alone.

Dean took a drink of his coffee and shook his head. "What do you think?"

"I think, he thinks we're idiots." She said slowly.

He nodded. "Right, what does he think he's gonna research? This case is so simple it's practically solves itself."

Kate shrugged. "You wanna follow him? See what he's up to?"

"Nah, leave him to it." He threw some money down on table and stood up, walking out of the diner.

It didn't take long for them to find and destroy the body. Soon after the three of them headed towards a bar to celebrate finishing the hunt with minimum injuries. "You know, we're getting kinda low on funds." Dean said, eyeing the group of guys occupying the pool tables in the back of the bar.

"You sure Dean? They look a bit.. big." Kate said, looking over at the pretty muscular guys.

"I'll be fine." He smirked, picking up his drink and walking away. An hour passed and Dean had let the guy win four hundred dollars from him. "One more game to let me win it back, we'll make it five." Dean said, pulling a wad of cash from his back pocket.

"You're gonna have to make it better if you want another game." The guy said to him.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Like how?"

"When I win, I get your hot girlfriend over there." He grinned a disturbingly rapey grin, nodding over at where Kate was sitting with Sam across the room. Dean felt himself tense up and clenched his jaw. It took everything in him not to beat the guy half to death for just looking at his sister the wrong way. Instead, he simply smiled and agreed.

Dean beat the guy easily, picking up the money and throwing down the que before walking away. "Hey, you hustled me." He yelled, walking up behind Dean and pulling him around to face him.

"What can I say man, it's a tough game." Dean smirked. "You were just unlucky."

"No, you totally cheated me. So either give me the money or I'll kill you right here." He shouted, grabbing the front of Dean's shirt.

Dean laughed in his face. "Oh yeah? Well, I've got a gun so do you really want to go there?"

"Oh what, you're gonna shoot me? In here? Yeah, now I'm scared." The guy laughed. "Listen buddy, I've taken a bunch of smartasses like you before. You think you're so tough but when you're getting your ass kicked in a back alley with only your boyfriend for backup while that slut's being banged for twenty bucks-"

"Don't you dare." He practically growled in his face. It was one thing to try and threaten him but when that was extended to his family, Dean got pissed easily.

"Aw, did I hurt your feelings?"

"I swear to god, I'm going to beat the hell out of you. And your pathetic, lowlife friends."

He shook his head. "I'm really going to enjoy putting you in a coma."

"Oh, give it your best shot you spineless, little bitch." Dean went to punch him in the face before someone grabbed him around the arm.

"C'mon Dean. Time to go." Sam said as he pulled him through the bar to the door, Dean never once taking his eyes from the guy.

"Cutting it a little close there weren't you Dean? Guy's obviously a psycho." Kate said to him once they'd left the bar.

"Whatever, he deserved a good ass kicking if you ask me."

"Remember what happened the last time you said that in a bar Dean? You spent the night in jail."

Dean smirked at the memory. Some guy had said something to Sam and Dean had literally kicked the hell out of him before being dragged off him by three cops and thrown into the back of a squad car. "Oh yeah, fun times." She rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

They began walking back to the motel room when Kate noticed a bright light, she turned to see a car driving head on towards her brother. "Dean, watch out!" She yelled, running straight at him and pushing him with everything she had in her. The car hit her straight on, her body flying straight over the top and landing in the middle of the road. The car had swerved into the side of the road and stopped. Dean stumbled to his feet and ran after it but the driver saw him and put his foot down. He chased the car right to the end of the long street before it got away and he remembered his baby sister was lying in the middle of the street, a broken bloody mess.

Sam dropped straight to his knees beside her when she was hit. He took her face in his hands and fought back the tears. "Oh god, Kate wake up. Please baby, you gotta wake up from me. Open your eyes, please!" She didn't respond to him. "Kate? Kate?! Someone call 911!" He yelled as people began to gather around them.

When Dean got back to the road, they were lifting Kate onto a stretcher. "Did you get him?" Sam asked him quietly.

"No.. He uh.. he got away. Go with her Sammy, I'll be there soon."

"What are you going to do Dean?"

"Just go Sam. She needs you with her right now."

"She needs you too Dean." Sam said, but Dean had already turned and began walking back to his car. He gave his brother one last look before climbing into the back of the ambulance to be with his sister. He knew where his brother was going. Half of him wanted Dean to find the guy and beat him to death for what he'd done to their sister but he knew inside that wasn't the answer. The police would be hanging around soon asking questions, a murder on Dean's hands wouldn't make it any easier for them. Not forgetting that at one point they'd been wanted by the authorities for several murders already.

Dean put his foot down on the pedal and drove the same way the car had gone, looking for anything that might give him a clue about where the guy had gone. After driving around for about half an hour at the top end of the speed limit, he realised he was getting nowhere fast. "C'mon Dean, what the hell are you doing?" He muttered to himself. He drove back to the bar where they'd been earlier, parking up before he got close to where it had happened. He paused at the door, he needed to be with his sister but he didn't think he could stand to see her the way she was now. He couldn't do anything for her from the hospital, this was the way he could help her now.

He walked in and saw that the guy's friends were still standing at the back near the pool tables. He stormed straight over and grabbed one of them around the neck, pushing him back into the wall. "Your friend, where is he?" He demanded.

"Dude, what the hell?" He struggled against Dean's grip.

"Look, I don't have time for your crap. Either tell me where he is or I swear to god, you'll be lying in the hospital bed next to the one he's put my sister in!"

The look on Dean's face told him that he wasn't kidding around. He wrote down the guy's address on a piece of paper and handed it to him. Without saying another word to him, Dean stormed back out of the bar to his car.

He pushed his car as fast as it would go, not caring how many speed laws he was breaking. All he could think about was how far he'd pushed that guy back there, far enough for him to try and run him over. It was Dean's fault his sister was hurt, lying in a hospital bed somewhere in pain. He'd never forgive himself for this one. He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his phone ringing. It was Sam. "Sammy? Is she okay? What's wrong?" He asked quickly.

_"Dean, where are you? You should be here."_

"I just got something to take care of, then I'll be there."

_"Listen to me, Kate needs her brothers here now. Both of them. Imagine how she's gonna feel if she wakes up and you're not here. I know what you're thinking Dean, revenge can wait."_

"You don't know Sam. The guy could run.. He deserves what's coming to him now."

_"Dean please, it's not just her. I need my brother here too." _

He could hear his voice crack over the phone. Sam needed him now, and so did his sister. "Okay Sammy, I'll be there. I promise." He hung up and turned the car around, heading to the hospital.

Dean knew his brother was right. He knew that even if they guy did run, it wouldn't take them long to find him. Truth was, he was avoiding the hospital because he didn't know if when Kate did wake up, if she woke up, that she'd even want to see him. It was all his fault that she was there. He didn't think he'd be able to look her in the face. Or Sam. If something happened to her, it would all be on him. He'd let everyone down.

After pulling into the parking lot, he ran straight from his car to the hospital reception and demanded to know where his sister was. He ran up the stairs and down the corridor before stopping at the slightly open door of a room. His heart broke at the scene in front of him. His sister attached to all sorts of wires and machines and his little brother sitting there, holding her hand with tears in his eyes. Sam looked up towards him and stood up, making his way out of the room and closing the door. "Dean, thank god." He sighed.

"Is she okay?" Dean asked him, the panic clear in his usually calm voice. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"She has internal bleeding, broken ribs, lung damage and head trauma." He said quietly.

Dean felt the tears stinging in his eyes. "Oh my god, what did I do?" He whispered.

"Dean, it wasn't your fault."

"I wound him up Sam, I pushed him to it.. He was driving at me. And now my sister's going to die for saving me."

"Hey." Sam cut him off sharply. "She is not going to die. She's tough. She'll make it." He shook his head and leaned against the wall. "She has to.."

Dean nodded slowly. "What are we-" He stopped and took a breath.

Sam looked up at him and shook his head in defeat. Honestly, he didn't know what either of them would do without their baby sister to look after them. All their life, they'd done everything in their power to keep her safe, but that was something that went both ways. She protected them just as much as they protected her. They needed her. More than he had every realised before.


	7. Chapter 7

"You wanna go in by yourself for a few minutes Dean?" Sam asked his brother gently, but he didn't seem to be listening. "Dean?"

"Huh?" Dean replied, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Go on in, I'll go get us some coffee."

"Yeah, sure." He said slowly.

Dean walked into the room and closed the door, standing and leaning against it for a couple of minutes before taking a breath and sitting down beside his sister. He took her hand in his own and looked over her bruised face sadly. "Why'd you do it Kate?" He whispered. "I don't even know if you can hear me or not but I need you to know, I'm sorry. Kate, I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I screwed up big time and now you-" His breath hitched as he realised he was crying. "Come on sis, get your lazy ass up. Please, just wake up.. I need you.. Sammy needs you.. Just open your eyes for me. Please Kate."

He quickly wiped a hand over his face as he heard the door open and close behind him, turning in his chair to see Sam walking into the room with two cups of coffee. Sam handed one to him and looked at him sadly. "I can't lose her Sammy." He said, barely a whisper.

"I know." Sam whispered. He looked at Dean and felt a tear roll down his own face. She had to wake up.

Three days passed without Kate showing any sign of waking up. Sam glanced over at his brother, sitting on the opposite side of the bed from him with Kate's hand in a tight grip. They had pretty much been sitting there the whole time, silently supporting one another.

The sound of Dean's phone ringing made them both jump. "It's Bobby, I'll be right back." He said quietly, leaving the room and closing the door. He only went as far as the window, never taking his eyes off his sister.

Sam looked from Dean to Kate and felt himself tear up again, it was so hard trying to stay strong all the time. He needed to be strong for Dean, and for Kate. He placed his hand gently on her face and stroked her cheek as he let the tears fall silently down his face. "Please wake up Kate.." He whispered to her.

Dean sighed as he entered the room, his brother looked worn out. He knew he hadn't slept at all since she'd been in the hospital, hell neither of them had. He walked around the bed and placed an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Sammy, you should get out of here." His voice was soft, he could tell his brother was breaking up.

"I'm not leaving her." He said quietly.

"You've been here for three days Sam. It's too much. I'm not talking long, just an hour or so to get your head straight."

"I dunno Dean."

"Go, I'll call you if anything changes."

Sam thought about it, he didn't want to leave his sister but he knew that sitting and staring at her wasn't doing him any good. It killed him to see her like that. He wasn't sure how much more he could take. If she didn't wake up soon, he didn't know what he'd do. Maybe Dean was right, a walk would probably help to clear his head a little. "Okay, I'll be back in an hour." He stood up and kissed his sister on the head before leaving the room and walking out of the hospital.

Dean sat the same way he'd been the past three days, clutching his sister's hand in his own. He was staring at Sam's empty chair when he felt something move in his hand. Kate's fingers closed around his hand and loosely squeezed him. His head snapped up faster than it ever had before to look at her. He stood from his seat and moved to sit on the side of her bed. "Kate? Hey, can you hear me sis?"

Her green eyes slowly opened to see him smiling down at her. "Dean?" She murmured, her voice a low whisper.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here." He said, stroking her face and giving her a cup of water.

She opened her eyes properly to look at him, suddenly becoming much more aware of her surroundings. Dean's eyes were red with dark rings around them, she could see that he had been crying and obviously hadn't had any sleep. "How long have you been sitting there? You look worse than I do." She smiled weakly.

Dean looked at her seriously, the smile gone from his face. "You stupid girl."

"What?" She asked, the shock clear in her voice.

"What the hell were you thinking Kate? You jumped in front of a damn car."

"Seriously? I just woke up and you're already going to yell at me?"

Dean sighed and calmed his voice. "No, of course I'm not. It's just.. Why'd you do it? You could have been killed."

"But I wasn't."

"You were lucky. Really lucky."

"Yeah, and you might not have been."

"What?"

"Dean, that car was going straight for you. I wasn't just going to stand there and watch it happen." Dean shook his head at her. "Look, you're my brother alright, I love you. You would have done the same thing if it was me or Sam and you know it. So don't think I'm about to apologise to you for it."

She looked hurt. He knew he'd been too hard on her. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired.. I don't mean to take it out on you." He said softly. "It's just, you could've died and I don't even know what I'd have done or- Kate, I'm so sorry."

She knew that he wasn't just talking about what he'd said to her. "It wasn't your fault Dean. You can't blame yourself."

He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "Of course it was my fault. I was the one who pissed the guy off. That guy was after me and you paid for it."

"Hey, come on." She said softly, placing a hand in his shoulder and pulling him into a hug. "Dean, I don't blame you for anything, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself all the time." She could feel his shoulders shaking, three days of bottled up emotion all coming out at once. "It's okay Dean, it's all okay.. Don't worry about it." He pulled away from her to see that she had started crying herself. They both laughed and wiped away their tears. "Hey, where's Sammy?"

"Oh, I made him go for a walk, he's been sat there for three days, got too much for him ya know. I'll call him." He said lightly, pulling out his phone.

Sam arrived slightly out of breath ten minutes later. "Hey you, nice to see you awake." Sam grinned, bouncing into the room and placing a kiss on her head, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay." He whispered. "You really gave us a scare this time."

"Sorry about that."

Sam laughed. "So you're okay? How're you feeling?"

"I'll live." She smiled.

"Listen, I'll give you some time to catch up. I'll be back later." Dean said from the doorway.

Sam nodded at him. "Be careful."

Looking between the two of them, Kate realised what was going on. "Dean, no. Don't." She said flatly.

"What?"

"You're planning to go after him right?"

"How'd you-"

"Well, you've been sitting here since I've been here. I know you Dean, you waited for me to wake up and you've seen I'm fine so you're going to find him. It's not worth it."

"Not worth it? Kate, look at what he did to you." He argued, raising his voice. "He deserves ripping limb from friggin' limb."

"Dean's right, he almost killed you." Sam looked just as angry as Dean. "We can't just let him get off free."

"Yeah, but he didn't kill me. You wanna go around there and kill him, spend the rest of your life in jail? This isn't worth your life Dean."

Dean found it amazing how well she could read them sometimes, but he knew how close they'd come to not having her around anymore. He'd let this happen to her and now he was going to make it right, no one could hurt his baby sister or brother and get away with it. He knew what he had to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Dean sat in his car outside of the hospital, looking at the piece of paper with the address on that he had gotten in the bar a few nights ago. He thought about what Kate had said to him before he'd left, and then about the sight of her beaten and broken lying on the road after the crash. His foot pressed down on the pedal as he drove to the house and parked up outside. He took off his leather jacket and threw it into the backseat before getting out and crossing he street. As he walked casually around the car parked in the driveway, he noticed that there were still marks on the front. Anger built up inside him as he stormed towards the door.

He pounded loudly with the side of his fist repeatedly until the guy came to the door. He pulled it open and looked Dean up and down. "Yeah?" Dean pushed him backwards and stepped inside, slamming the door closed behind himself.

"What the hell? You can't just barge in here-" He began, stopping as Dean grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed his back against the wall.

"Oh, don't you remember me?" He asked, glaring into his face.

Realisation covered his face. The colour drained right out of him as he began struggling against Dean's grip. "Look, I-"

"Shut the hell up." Dean yelled as he punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him to the floor. Dean kicked him a few times. "You nearly killed my sister. You drove straight into her and then you drove off."

"I know.." He coughed, blood coming out of his mouth. "It wasn't my fault, she ran out. I couldn't stop in time."

"Don't give me that bullshit! You knew damn well what you were doing!" He kicked him a few more times before kneeling down and punching him in the face. "She's twenty-two years old." He shouted as he continued to punch him. "You left her there for dead!" He yelled even louder before punching him harder. Dean took a breath before getting to his feet and pulling his gun.

"Whoa.. please man."

"Too late for that." Dean said, no emotion in his voice. The guy looked up at him terrified. The cold, murderous look on Dean's face scared him more than he thought anyone ever could. Dean cocked the gun and aimed it straight at the guy's head. Looking at him, lying on the floor covered in blood, he thought about everything that he'd almost cost him. Alongside his brother, Kate was the only thing that gave him anything to live for. He swore to himself a long time ago that anyone who hurt either of them would pay for it. He squeezed the gun, his finger on the trigger, and thought back to what his sister had said to him before he'd left. 'This isn't worth your life Dean.' And although he would happily give his life up for either of his siblings in a heartbeat, he couldn't shake his sister's words from the back of his mind. He sighed and lowered the gun as he leant down next to him.

"You're not even worth it." He muttered to him in a disgusted voice. "But I swear to god, if I ever see you again, I will kill you. You understand me?"

The guy nodded quickly. Dean punched him a couple more times before standing and kicking him in the face, knocking him out. He shoved the gun into the back of his jeans and walked out of the house without looking back, getting into his car and driving off.

Sam and Kate sat in the hospital room together as they waited for Dean to come back. "He's been gone a while now.." Kate said quietly. "What do you think he did?"

He looked down, not knowing how to answer her. He didn't want to lie to her, he knew how angry his brother really was. Not just with the guy who hit her, but with himself too. "I don't know Kate.. I really don't."

"Maybe you should go find him?" She suggested, he could hear the concern in her voice.

"No, Dean knows what he's doing. The guy deserves whatever he gets." Sam said coldly.

"Sam.."

"No. He almost killed you, what part of that do you not seem to understand Kate? I mean, what would I-" He stopped as he realised he was shouting at her.

"Look I get it, trust me. But beating the crap out of him isn't going to do any good."

"Well it'll sure make me feel a hell of a lot better." He muttered.

Kate shook her head. "Sammy, you know Dean as well as I do. What if he gets carried away huh?"

"You know, I don't really care. I hope he rips the guy apart." He said angrily, pushing back his chair as he stood up.

"Sam. Calm down, you're freaking me out."

Sam looked down at her, seeing the concern in her face. He sighed and dropped back into his seat. "Why do you care so much? After what he did to you?"

"Like I said Sam, it's not worth his life. Think about it, Dean kills him and the Feds realise we're not dead, they're right back on our tail."

Sam thought about it for a couple of minutes. He knew she was right, he remembered how much trouble they'd almost been in the last time the Feds had caught up with them. "You know, sometimes I wish we could just go back to the way we were before. Back when we just used to hunt.. Before all of this."

"You and me both." She mumbled, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. The two of them sat in silence for a while until the door opened. Dean walked in with blood still staining his knuckles and splattered over his gray t-shirt. He looked between them before closing the door and sitting down. "Dean.." Kate started. "Tell me you didn't."

"No. He's alive.." He mumbled. "Just."

"Just?" Sam pressed.

"Leave it, it's done with." Dean snapped at him. He looked at Kate who shrugged at him. They knew when Dean got himself into one of these moods it was useless trying to get him to talk. The three of them watched the small tv in the corner of the room for a while, none of them speaking. After a couple of hours, Kate fell asleep.

"So what did you do to him?" Sam finally asked him.

"I worked him over pretty well."

"That's it?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes Sam. That's it."

"Okay." He mumbled, taking the hint that he didn't want to talk about it.

Dean looked up at his brother. "You look surprised."

"No, it's just you seemed dead set on going the whole way with it.. So why didn't you?"

"I was, I pulled the gun on him and everything. But with what Kate said and stuff.. I don't know Sammy, I just didn't."

"Probably for the best, the last thing we need right now is a murder case on our hands." Sam smiled at him.

Dean nodded. "Man, I can't wait to get the hell out of this freaking town."

"Yeah, tell me about it." He agreed.

They spent the best part of the next week watching tv in the hospital room. The only time that Sam and Dean left the room was when they were made to leave for a while so Kate's doctor could give her a check over. The two of them decided to go to the diner across the street to get something to eat while he did. They sat in there for about an hour before heading back. When they arrived back at the hospital, they walked into Kate's room to find it empty. The bed was made and all of her stuff was gone. "What the hell's going on Sammy?" Dean asked him, the panic clear in his voice.

Sam glanced around nervously. "Look, I'm sure she's fine Dean." He said calmly.

"Can I help you two?" A nurse asked them as she walked into the room.

"What's going on?" Dean demanded.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked him, looking genuinely confused.

"The girl who was in here, where is she?" Sam asked, growing more and more concerned.

"I don't know, I'm sorry. You should go to reception, they'll be able to tell you."

Dean stormed out of the room before she had even finished her sentence, Sam right behind him. He marched over to the reception desk and tapped his fingers impatiently on the counter, waiting for someone to come over to them. "Dean, calm down." Sam warned him.

"I'll calm down when I find my damn sister." He said, his voice raised in frustration. An older woman sorting papers behind the desk looked up at him and glared for a second before going back to what she was doing. "She's not even doing anything." He muttered to Sam, earning them both another glare.

Sam shook his head. "Look, we're not going to find her if you keep yelling at the freaking staff." He snapped, shoving Dean out of the way so he could stand directly in front of the desk.

"What are we standing around here for?" A voice said casually from between them.

They both turned to find Kate standing there, fully dressed in her jeans and leather jacket with her hair pulled back, her bag slung over her shoulder. They both breathed a sigh of relief. "What's going on?" Sam asked her.

"They said I could leave." She smiled.

"They did? Are you sure you're well enough?"

"I'm fine, really." She answered quickly. "Can we just go, please?"

Sam and Dean looked between each other and shrugged. "Sure, let's go." Dean said, grabbing her bag from her and leading the way towards the exit.

Once they were in the car, Dean wasted no time in driving away from the hospital at full speed. "Kate, are you sure they said you could leave?" Sam suddenly asked her, a frown forming on his face.

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean it's a little strange how the first time we're both out of the hospital for more than an hour, they decide out of the blue that you're allowed to leave."

Dean suddenly caught onto what Sam was getting at. "You didn't check yourself out did you?" He asked her, looking at her through the rear view mirror. She looked away from him, out of the window. "Kate?"

"Look, I'm fine. That place was driving me nuts."

"So you just left? For god's sake Kate." He shook his head and sighed. He couldn't say that he blamed her, he hated being in hospitals. He'd discharged himself from them practically on his deathbed in the past.

"I'm okay, really. I wouldn't have left if I didn't feel like I was well enough."

Dean looked at Sam who shrugged. "Okay, but we're keeping a close eye on you alright?"

"Fine." She muttered, looking out of the window, not mentioning it again.

Dean shook his head to himself and continued to drive, deciding that he would stop a few towns over to give the three of them the good nights sleep that they all needed.


	9. Chapter 9

Two days later the three of them were in Colorado for their next job. They were in a morgue to take a look at the body of a guy who had died recently. The coroner lead the three of them into a room and opened up a body bag. ''Agents, meet Frank O'Brien.''

The three of them looked at the body. ''He died of a heart attack, right?'' Sam asked.

''That's right, three days ago.''

''But O'Brien was 44 years old and a marathon runner.''

''Everybody drops dead sooner or later. It's why I got job security.''

''Yeah, but Frank kicked it here. Now, just yesterday, two perfectly healthy men bit it in Maumee. All heart attacks, you don't think that's strange?'' Dean added.

''Sounds like Maumee's problem to me. Why's the FBI give a damn, anyway?''

''We just want to see the results of Frank's autopsy.''

''What autopsy?''

''The one you're gonna do.'' Dean smiled at him.

The coroner began to cut open the dead body and glanced up towards them. ''First dead body?'' He asked.

''Far from it'' Dean said.

''Oh, good. Because these suckers can get pretty ripe. Hey, hand me those rib cutters, would you?''

Dean picked up the rib cutters and handed them to him. As he cut through the ribs it took everything in Sam to keep himself from squirming. Dean however didn't seem to notice as he was too busy smirking at his sister's horrified face. She glared at him and looked down to Franks hand, noticing a mark on his finger. ''Hey is that from a wedding ring? I didn't think Frank was married.''

''Ain't my department.'' The coroner replied to her. Sam picked up his arm and took a look at the marks on the back. ''Any idea how he got these?'' He asked him.

''You know what? When you drop dead, you actually tend to drop. Body probably got scraped up when it hit the ground.. Huh.''

''What?'' Sam asked.

''Well I can't find any blockages in any of the major arteries.'' He said. The coroner pulled out the heart. ''Heart looks pretty damn healthy.. Hold this will you?'' He handed the heart to Dean. This time it was him who looked as though he was about to throw up earning a smirk from both his right and left side. The coroner cut through something else in the body causing Sam's face to be splashed with blood.

''Oh, sorry. Spleen juice.'' He said. Dean looked over at Kate who was apparently trying her best to contain her laughter at them both.

As they walked out of the morgue onto the street she suddenly bust into laughter. ''Spleen juice, that's hilarious.'' She laughed. Sam did his best bitch face at her before feeling the smirk tugging on his own lips. They climbed into the car and Dean began to drive. ''So, Sheriff's office?'' Dean suggested. Sam nodded in agreement.

They walked into the police station and walked over to the desk to talk to the deputy who told them to take a seat and wait for the sheriff. He came out of his office a few minutes later mumbling about something before laying eyes on them. ''Who are they?'' He asked as the three of them stood up.

''Federal agents.'' He replied.

''And you kept them waiting?''

''You, you said not to disturb.''

''Come on back.'' He said to them. ''Shoes off.'' He told them on his way into his office. They looked at each other confused but did as they were told before walking into his office and sitting down. ''Al Britton. Good to meet you.'' He said shaking their hands.

''You too'' Sam smiled.

The sheriff took out a bottle of alcohol gel and put it all over his hands. Dean, Sam and Kate all looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. ''Okay. So, what can I do for uncle Sam?'' He asked.

''Well, we're looking into the death of Frank O'Brien. We understand some of your men found his body.''

''They did. Me and Frank, we were friends. Hell, we were gamecocks.'' Dean snickered to himself which earned him a glare from the sheriff. ''That's our softball team's name.'' Dean nodded. ''They're majestic animals. I knew Frank since high school. To be honest, I just this morning got up the strength to go see him. Frank was...He was a good man.''

''Yeah.. big heart.'' Dean said with a small smirk at his own joke. Sam coughed to cover up his sister's small laugh. The sheriff eyed the two of them suspiciously. His brother and sister could be so unprofessional sometimes.

''Before he died, did you notice frank acting strange? Maybe scared of something?''

The sheriff turned to Sam. ''Oh hell, yeah. Real jumpy.''

''You know what scared him?''

''No. Wouldn't answer his phone. Finally, I sent some of my boys over to check on him, and well, you know the rest.'' He picked up his bottle of alcohol get and again started rubbing it into his hands. Dean looked at Sam and Kate with his 'WTF face'.

''So, why the Feds give a crap? You don't really think there's a case here?''

''No, no. It's probably nothing. Just a heart attack.'' Dean said as they stood up to leave. They walked out of the building in silence and into the parking lot. ''No way that was a heart attack.'' Dean said.

''Definitely no way. Three victims, all with those same red scratches. All went from jittery to terrified to dead within 48 hours.'' Sam said.

''Something scared them to death?'' Kate suggested.

''All right, so what can do that?''

''What can't? Ghosts, vampires, chupacabra? It could be a hundred things.'' Dean said.

''Yeah. So, we make a list and start crossing things off.''

''Alright, who's the last person to see Frank O'Brien alive?''

''Uh, his neighbour, Mark Hutchins.''

Dean suddenly stopped. ''Hang on, hang on.''

''What?'' Kate asked him.

Dean turned to look at them. '' I don't like the looks of those teenagers down there.'' They turned to see a group of teenagers talking near the Impala. ''Let's walk this way.'' He said walking in the opposite direction across the street leaving Sam and Kate staring confusedly at each other.

''What just happened?'' Sam asked her as they followed him.

They were sitting in Mark Hutchins house on his sofa. Dean glancing around the room nervously at the variety of lizards in glass cases. ''So, the last time you saw Frank O'Brien?'' Kate asked him.

''Monday, he was watching me from his window. I waved at him, but he just closed the curtains.'' Mark said to her.

''Hmm. did you speak to him recently? Did he seem different? Uh, scared?'' Sam asked.

''Oh, totally. He was freaking out.'' He replied.

''Do you know what scared him?''

''Well, yeah, witches.''

''Witches?'' Sam asked. They all looked at each other. ''Like..?''

''Well, "Wizard of Oz" was on tv the other night, right? And he said that green bitch was totally out to get him.''

''Anything else scare him?''

''Everything else scared him. Al-Qaeda, ferrets, artificial sweetener. Those pez dispensers with their dead little eyes. Lots of stuff.''

''Huh.'' Kate said. ''So what was he like?''

''I mean, he's dead, you know? I-I don't want to hammer him but, he got better. I mean in high school he was, he was a dick.''

''So he pissed a lot of people off. You think anyone would have wanted to get revenge?''

''No, I don't think so. Like I said, he got better. And after what happened to his wife.''

''His wife? So he was married.'' Dean asked.

''She died about 20 years ago. Frank was really broken up about it.''

Dean looked around the room at the animals and then towards the snake that Mark was holding. Mark smiled. ''Don't be scared of Donny. He's a sweetheart. It's Marie you got to look out for. She smells fear.''

A large yellow snake creeped up from behind the sofa and towards Deans shoulder. He looked around and gasped sitting very still. Kate sat with a hand over her mouth trying not to laugh at the look of pure terror on her usually so macho brother's face. She looked towards Sam who was apparently thinking exactly the same thing as she was.

That night the three of them were in the car talking about the information Dean had got about Frank's wife. Sam noticed the speed Dean was driving at. ''Dude, you're going 20.'' He said confused.

''And?''

''That's the speed limit.''

''What? Safety's a crime now?'' He said as he drove past their hotel.

''Dude, where are you going? That was our hotel.'' Sam asked looking into the backseat at Kate apparently as confused about her brother's behaviour as he was.

''Sam, I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal.''

''Did I just say that? That was kind of weird.''

There was a sudden noise coming from Sam's pocket. ''Do you hear something?'' He said pulling out the EMF meter. He looked at it and held it towards Dean who looked up horrified.

''Am I haunted? Am I haunted?'' He yelled in a panicked voice. Not taking his eyes off the EMF meter.

''Dean chill out before you crash the freaking car.'' Kate yelled from the back.

He pulled into the hotel parking lot and looked at them. ''What the hell do we do now?''

''Let's get inside. Before anything else happens.'' Sam said. They got out of the car and checked in. Dean sat down on one of the beds and turned on the tv flicking channels. ''I'm gonna go get some food, keep an eye on him.'' Sam said to Kate. She nodded at him as he left and went to sit with Dean.

''You okay bro?'' She asked him patting him on the knee.

''What's going on Kate?'' He asked in a terrified voice. ''I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die i know it.''

''Hey chill out, you're not going to die okay. Calm down.''

''I am. This is it. It's all over. What's happening to me?'' He pleaded to her.

''Well.. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've caught whatever Frank had. You're freaking out dude.''

''Do you find this funny. I'm practically on my death-bed here.''

''You're gonna be fine Dean. You're Batman remember.'' Quoting the batman part with her fingers and laughing to herself as she went to get a beer. ''You want one?''

He nodded at her taking it and downing half of it in one. She looked at him nervously. ''Maybe you should get some sleep.''

He nodded and led down closing his eyes. He fell asleep before Sam came back. He came in with a bag of food and looked at Dean. ''How is he?''

''Like a terrified, alcoholic six-year old.'' She said. ''What are we gonna do?''

''We'll leave him how he is for now, try to keep him calm. Then we can call Bobby in the morning.'' She nodded in agreement.

The next morning the three of them left the hotel to go and grab some breakfast but as according to Dean the road separating them from the café was a death trap, the two of them went over to pick something up and sent him back to the room.

As they crossed the street on their way back Kate nudged Sam's arm and nodded towards the Impala. Dean was lying in the front seat of his car air drumming to eye of the tiger. Sam and Kate looked at each other as Sam banged on the roof causing Dean to jump and get out of the car.

''Look at this.'' He said showing them scratches on his arm.

''I just called Bobby.'' Sam said.

''And?'' He said smelling the box of donuts and throwing them into the car. They looked at him confused.

''It's ghost sickness.''

''Ghost sickness? God, no.'' Dean said. ''I don't even know what that is.''

''Symptoms are you get anxious... Then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out. Sound familiar?''

''Yeah, but Sam, we haven't seen a ghost in weeks.''

''Well, I doubt you caught it from a ghost. Look, once a spirit infects that first person, ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu. Now, Frank O'Brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero.''

''Our very own outbreak monkey.'' Dean added.

''Right. Get this, Frank was in Maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament. Which is where he must have infected the other two victims.''

''Were they gamecocks?'' Dean asked, seeming genuinely interested.

''Cornjerkers.''

''So, ghosts infected Frank. He passed it on to the other guys and I got it from his corpse?''

''Right.''

''So now what, I have 48 hours before I go insane and my heart stops?''

''More like 24.''

''Super. Well, why me? Why not you? I mean, you got hit with the spleen juice.''

''Yeah um, you see we have a theory about that too. Turns out all three victims shared a certain, uh, personality type. Frank was a bully. The other two victims, one was a vice principal, the other was a bouncer.'' Dean looked at him confused.

''Basically, they were all dicks.'' Kate added flatly.

''So you're saying I'm a dick?''

''No, no, no. It's not just that.'' Sam added quickly. ''All three victims used fear as a weapon, and now this disease is just returning the favor.''

''I don't scare people.''

''Dean, all we do is scare people.''

''Okay, well then, you're dicks too.'' He said pointing between Sam and Kate.

''Apparently, we're not.'' He said with a smug grin.

''Whatever. How do we stop it?''

''We gank the ghost that started all this. We do that, the disease should clear up.''

''Hey what are you doing out here anyway?'' Kate asked him.

''Our room's on the fourth floor. It's...it's high.''

''I'll see if I can move us down to the first.'' Sam said to him turning towards the hotel. ''Watch him.'' He muttered to Kate before he walked off. Dean climbed back into his car and looked at the donuts again tossing them down next to him.

When Sam came back Dean got out of the car again and looked at him anxiously. ''Okay so we're moved down to the first floor, you go back to the room and stay there okay. Don't do anything stupid.''

''Wait, where are you two going?''

''We're gonna go and see if we can find out what happened to Frank's wife. We'll be back soon okay.'' Sam said patting him on the shoulder and getting into the car leaving Dean alone to go to the room.

When Sam and Kate got back they walked in to find Dean sitting on the sofa with the clock smashed up in the middle of the floor. ''Hey.'' They said sitting down. ''Everything all right?''

''Oh yeah. Just peachy. Find anything?''

''Yeah, Jessie O'Brien's body was cremated, so I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost. Hey, quit picking at that.'' She said kicking him ''How you feeling?''

''Awesome. It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again. I almost forgot what that feels like. It's freaking delightful.''

''We'll keep looking.'' Sam assured him.

Dean suddenly started coughing violently running towards the sink. Kate and Sam jumped up and ran after him. ''Hey, hey you okay?'' Kate said holding onto his shoulders as he started to choke. ''Dean!'' She shouted as he grabbed hold of her arm tightly and began gagging over the sink eventually spitting out a wood chip.

Sam looked up. ''We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have, you.'' He said to Dean.

''I don't want to be a clue.'' He said in a sulky voice.

''The abrasions, this, the disease, it's trying to tell us something.''

''Tell us what, wood chips?''

''Exactly. I know where we have to go.'' Sam said pulling out the car keys. ''Come on.''

Sam drove them silently to a mill. They got out of the car and Dean looked at the mill apprehensively. ''I'm not going in there.''

''We need backup, and you're all We've got. You're going in, Dean.''

Dean pulled out a bottle of whiskey from his jacket and took a drink. ''Let's do this. It is a little spooky, isn't it?''

Sam handed Kate her gun and then held one out to Dean. ''Oh, I'm not carrying that. It could go off. I'll man the flashlight.''

''You do that.'' He said with a smirk walking away. They walked into the mill together, Sam holding the EMF meter as it started to go off.

''EMF's not gonna work with me around, is it?'' Dean said.

''You don't say. Come on.'' He said shoving it back into his jacket pocket.

''Wait up..'' Kate said suddenly, causing Dean to jump, bending down and picking something up off the floor. ''To Frank. Love, Jessie.. Frank O'Brien's ring.''

''What the hell was Frank doing here?'' Sam asked.

''No idea.''

They walked into a room full of lockers hearing something rustling inside one. Sam counted to three silently as Kate held her gun pointed at it. Sam pulled open the locker and a cat jumped out causing Dean to scream loudly. Kate and Sam looked at each other astonished. ''That was scary!'' He said. Sam nodded at him and walked away.

They walked into another room. ''Luther Garland.'' Sam said picking up an ID from one of the desks. Dean pointed to a drawing on the table. ''Hey, this is uh...this is Frank's wife.''

''Plot thickens.''

''Yeah, but into what?'' He replied tearing the drawing off the table. The machines in the room turned on and a figure appeared in the corner. Sam turned around to Dean who looked more terrified than he had ever seen his big brother look. He looked towards Kate and then back around to Dean who had taken off running our of the mill. Sam shot the ghost and followed Dean out of the mill to find him crouched behind his car downing his whiskey.

''Guess we got the right place.'' Sam said to Kate. The two of them pulled Dean up and put him into the car, going back to the motel and getting changed into their FBI clothes and heading back to the sheriff's office. They walked over to the deputies desk. ''Hey, we'd like to see the file of Luther Garland please.'' Sam said to him. ''Sure'' He said walking off to get it.

He turned around to look at Kate who was standing holding onto Dean's arm. ''Are you sure we should have brought him with us?'' Sam said shooting a glance at his steaming drunk brother.

''Did you really want to leave him on his own?''

''Point taken.'' He replied turning back to the desk. ''This is the Garland file.'' His eyes moved towards Dean who was swaying.

''Is he.. Drunk? He asked Sam.

Sam turned to look at him and back to the deputy. ''No. Deputy, according to this, Luther Garland's cause of death was physical trauma. What does that mean?''

''The guy died 20 years ago, before my time. Sorry.''

''Then can we talk to the sheriff?''

''Um, he's out sick today.''

''Well, if you see him, will you have him call us? We're staying at the Bluebird. Mind if I take this?'' The deputy nodded at him.

A woman sitting reading a magazine was staring warily at Dean and Kate. Kate offered her a small smile before returning her attention to her brother. Dean was too busy examining his hand to realise what was going on. Kate grabbed hold of his arm and shoved it back down to his side coughing loudly to let Sam know to hurry it up so they could get him out of there before anyone got wise to him being totally wasted.

Sam turned to Kate and walked towards the door, Kate following him not realising Dean wasn't behind them. ''Know what? You're awesome.'' He said to the deputy.

''Thanks. Um, y-you too, I guess.''

Dean smiled at him before being dragged out of the door by Kate and Sam and being shoved into the back of the car. ''So now what?'' Kate asked him.

''We go see Luther's brother.'' Sam said to her. ''It's a couple hours drive, that should give boozy there time to sleep some of it off.'' He noted pointing at Dean who was already unconscious in the backseat.

They pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. Dean had seemed to have sobered up slightly during the drive there. They walked into the building and got directions to Luther's brother's room. Dean was staring at his FBI badge the entire time. ''This isn't gonna work. Come on, these badges are fake. What if we get busted? We could go to jail.'' He said in a panicked voice.

Kate stopped him and grabbed hold of his shoulders. ''Dean, shh! Calm down. Deep breath, okay?'' He did as he was told. ''There. You feel better?'' She asked him. Dean shook his head at her and she rolled her eyes. ''Just come on. Don't scratch.''

They walked into the room to see Luther's brother sitting at a table. ''Mr. Garland. Hi uh, I'm Agent Tyler. These are Agents Perry and Young, FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your brother Luther.'' Sam said.

''Let me see some ID'' Dean's head whipped up with a horrified expression.

''Certainly.'' Sam replied calmly as they handed over their badges.

''Those are real, obviously. I mean, who would pretend to be an FBI agent, huh? That's just nutty.'' Dean stammered nervously. Sam stamped on his foot to shut him up.

Mr Garland looked at them and handed back their badges. ''What do you want to know?''

''Uh, well...according to this, your brother Luther died of physical trauma.. You don't agree?''

''No, I don't.''

''Well, then, what would you call it?''

''Don't matter what an old man thinks.''

''Mr. Garland. We're just trying to get the truth on your brother. Please.'' Kate said to him softly.

''Everybody was scared of Luther. They called him a monster. He was too big, too mean-looking. Just too different. Didn't matter he was the kindest man I ever knew. Didn't matter he'd never hurt no one. A lot of people failed Luther. I was one of them. I was a widower with three young 'uns. And I told myself there was nothing I could do.''

''Mr. Garland, um...do you recognize this woman?'' Sam asked handing him a picture.

''It's Jessie O'Brien. Her man, Frank, killed Luther.''

''How do you know that?''

''Everybody knows. They just don't talk about it. Jessie was a receptionist at the mill. She was always real nice to Luther, and he had a crush on her. But Frank didn't like it. And when Jessie went missing, Frank was sure that Luther had done something to her. Turns out the old gal killed herself, but Frank didn't know that. They found Luther with a chain wrapped around his neck. He was dragged up and down the stretch outside that plant till he was past dead.''

''And O'Brien was never arrested?''

''I screamed to every cop in town. They didn't want to look into Frank. He was a pillar of the community. My brother was just the town freak.''

''You must have hated Frank O'Brien.''

''I did for a long time, but life's too short for hate, son. And frank wasn't thinking straight. His wife had vanished, he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the same, but...that's fear. It spreads and spreads.''

''Yeah, i hear you.'' Sam said to him. ''Well that's all we needed, thank you for your time.'' They left and went back to the car.

''Now we know what these are, road rash.'' He said pointing at his arm. ''And I'm guessing Luther swallowed some wood chips when he was being dragged down that road.''

''Makes sense. You're experiencing his death in slow motion.''

''Yeah well, not slow enough, huh? Say we burn some bones and get me healthy.''

''Dean, it won't be that easy.''

''No, no, it'll be that easy. Why wouldn't it be that easy?''

''Luther was road-hauled. His body was ripped to pieces. He was probably scattered all over that road. There's no way we're gonna find all the remains.''

''You're kidding me.''

''Look, we'll just have to figure something else out.''

''You know what? Screw this.''

''Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dean.''

''Come on. No, I mean, come on, Sam. What are we doing?''

''We're hunting a ghost.''

''A ghost, exactly! Who does that?''

''Us.''

''Us? Right. And that, that is exactly why our lives suck. I mean, come on, we hunt monsters! What the hell? I mean, normal people, they see a monster, and they run. But not us, no, no, no, we - we search out things that want to kill us. Yeah? Huh? Or eat us! You know who does that? Crazy people! We...are insane! You know, and then there's the bad diner food and then the skeevy motel rooms and then the truck stop waitress with the bizarre rash. I mean, who wants this life? Huh? Seriously? Do either of you actually like being stuck in a car with me eight hours a day, every single day? I don't think so! I mean, I drive too fast. And I listen to the same five albums over and over and over again, a-and I sing along. I'm annoying, I know that. And this one here, she never shuts up, she just talks all the time. And then there's her stupid tv shows she makes us watch. Freaking Chad Micheal Murray this and James freaking Lafferty that, who the hell are they? And you Sam, you're gassy! You eat half a burrito, and you get toxic! I mean, you know what? You can forget it.''

''Whoa, Dean. where are you going?''

''Stay away from me , okay? Both of you. Cause I am done with it. I'm done with the monsters and - and - and the hellhounds and the ghost sickness and the damn apocalypse. I'm out. I'm done. Quit.''

Sam and Kate looked at each other, mouths hanging open, speechless at the rant their brother had just had at them.

Dean walked quickly down the street stopping when he heard growling behind him. He turned to see, in his opinion, a terrifying dog easily capable of tearing him apart. He broke into a run and didn't stop until he was safe in his motel room. He sat there for a while alone before Sam walked in the door.

''I looked everywhere for you, Dean. How the hell did you get here?''

''Ran. What do we do now? I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die, Sammy.''

''Yeah, you are. You're going back.''

''Back?'' Dean asked him confused.

''Downstairs Dean, hell. It's about damn time, too. Truth is, You've been a real pain in my ass.'' Sam's eyes had turned yellow and he threw him into a wall with his hand.

''No! You get out of my brother, you evil son of a bitch!''

''No one's possessing me, Dean. This is what I'm going to become. This is what I want to become. There's nothing you can do about it.'' He took hold of Dean's neck and started to choke him.

Dean blinked hard and heard Sam shouting. ''Hey, hey, hey, Dean. Hey, Dean. Dean. Dean.'' He looked to see his brother supporting him by holding onto his shoulders and his sister standing in the doorway looking worried.

''Okay you need to get some rest Dean.'' Sam said.

''Where are you going?''

''We're going to meet Bobby. We'll come up with a plan, don't worry about it.''

Dean nodded at them and watched as they walked out of the door. He sat back down on the bed and turned on the tv.

''What the hell are we gonna do Sammy?'' Kate asked when they were in the car.

''I don't know, Bobby'll think of something. We'll get him out of this Kate.'' He told her.

''I know.'' She said, not sounding at all convinced. Truth was right now she felt just about as terrified as Dean probably did. They arrived at the place they agreed to meet Bobby and sat on the front of the car to wait for him. He got there about ten minutes after they did.

''Hey guys.'' He greeted them. Kate smiled at him.

''Hey, Bobby. Thanks for coming so quick.'' Sam said.

''Where's Dean?'' Bobby asked.

''Uh, home sick.'' Sam replied.

**''**So, have his hallucinations started yet?''

''Yeah, a few hours ago.''

''How we doing on time?''

''We saw the coroner about 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, so, uh...just under two hours. What about you? You find anything?''

''This uh, encyclopaedia of spirits dates to the Edo period.'' He handed the book to Sam who held it out for both him and Kate to look at.

''You can read Japanese?'' Kate asked sounding impressed.

Bobby gave them a reply in Japanese.

They both grinned at him. ''Guess so, show-off.'' Sam said.

''Anyway, this book lists a kind of ghost that could be our guy. It uh, infects people with fear. It's called a Buru Buru.''

''It say how to kill it?''

''Same as usual. Burn the remains.''

''Wonderful. Uh...is there a Plan "B"?''

''Well, the Buru Buru is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says we can kill it with fear.''

''So we have to scare a ghost to death?''

''Pretty much.''

''How the hell we gonna do that?''

''I think I got an idea.'' Sam said filling them in on his plan.

They were interrupted by Kate's phone ringing. ''Hey bro, you doing okay?'' She asked him softly.

_''You got a plan yet?''_

''Uh yeah, kinda. Yeah, just ride out the trip, okay? You're, you're gonna be fine.''

_''So what's the plan?''_

''Uh, just a good plan, all right? Hang in there.'' She said hanging up on him.

''This is a terrible plan.'' Bobby said.

''Yeah, tell me about it.'' Sam agreed.

''I know I said, "scare the ghost to death" but this?''

''Hey, you got a better idea, I'm listening.''

Sam and Kate walked into the mill. They walked around for a while but nothing happened.

''Any look?'' Bobby asked Sam over the phone.

''I don't know what's wrong, Bobby. Last time he came right at us. It's almost like he's, uh...like he's scared.'' He nodded at Kate and put his gun to the ground, Kate did the same and followed Sam into the room where they had seen him the last time they were there.

''So now what?''

''I guess we got to make him angry. Hey, Luther!'' Sam yelled starting to tear up all the drawings in the room. The machines turned on. ''Come on, Luther! Where the hell are you? What are you waiting for?''

''Sam!'' Kate yelled at him. He turned around to see Luther standing right behind him. Kate ran towards the desk and ripped up another drawing. The ghost turned his attention to her giving Sam time to wrap a chain around Luther's neck. ''Bobby, punch it!'' Sam yelled.

Outside Bobby put his foot down on the pedal and pulled Luther's spirit down the road until it disappeared. Sam and Kate ran outside to meet Bobby who was getting out of the car.

''Did it work?'' Sam asked.

''I think so.'' Bobby replied.

Kate pulled out her phone and dialed Dean's number. It rang twice before he answered. _''Kate?''_

''Hey Dean, you okay?''

_''Yeah, I'm good.''_

''It's over, we did it. We're heading back for you now.''

_''Okay.'' _He said putting the phone down.

''He okay?'' Sam asked.

''Yeah he says so. I'm gonna go pick him up, you wanna stay here and I'll bring him back with me?''

''Yeah sure'' Sam smiled.

Sam and Bobby watched her get into the Impala and drive off. ''How's she doing? Since the accident?'' He asked Sam.

''She's okay, she takes a lot of pain meds when she thinks we're not paying attention but she's getting better.''

''And how's Dean? He still not sleeping? Nightmares?''

''Yeah, that's still going on. I don't know what to do about it. I mean if he wanted to talk about them I think he'd have mentioned it ya know?''

''Yeah. I'm sure he'll be fine.'' Bobby assured him.

Kate got out of the car and walked over to the hotel room to find Dean sitting there watching tv. She walked over and hugged him. ''You okay?''

''Course i'm okay.'' He smiled at her.

''Awh. Nice to have my tough macho brother back again.'' He laughed at her and punched her playfully in the arm. ''You ready to go?''

''Definitly.'' They left the room and got back into the car.

''So whatcha see? At the end? Was it bad?''

''Nah, nothing major.'' He smiled at her looking out the window thinking about what he had really seen. Lilith, telling him he was going back to hell. His brother with yellow eyes. She shook his head and tried to rid the images from his mind. The drive went quite fast as Kate filled Dean in on how they managed to save him. They pulled up in front of Sam and Bobby who grabbed them a beer each handing it to them as they walked over to them.

''Nice to have to back man.'' Sam said to him.

Dean smiled taking a drink of his beer. ''So you guys road-hauled a ghost with a chain?''

''Iron chain etched with spell work.''

''Hmm, that's a new one.''

''It was what he was most afraid of. It was pretty brutal, though.''

''On the upside, I'm still alive, so uh, go team!''

''Yeah. How you feeling, by the way?''

''Fine.''

''You sure, Dean? 'Cause this line of work can get awful scary.'' Bobby joked.

''I'm fine. You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything.'' Dean said in his tough voice.

''Awwww, he's adorable. I got to get out of here. You three drive safe.'' Bobby said to them.

''You too, Bobby. Hey, thanks.'' They waved as Bobby drove off.

''So uh...so, what did you see? Near the end, I mean.'' Sam asked him.

''Oh, besides a cop beating my ass?''

''Seriously.''

Dean looked at Sam and Kate and sighed. ''Howler monkeys. Whole roomful of them. Those things creep the hell out of me.''

''Right.''

''No, just the usual stuff, Sammy. Nothing I can't handle.'' He said taking another drink of his beer.

''So what now?'' Kate asked.

''I guess we hit the road, get the hell outta here.'' Dean said.

They finished their beers and got back into the car driving off.

_So I know this pretty much just followed the episode but I hope you guys liked it anyway, thanks again for reading :D_


	10. Chapter 10

They drove for most of the day before stopping at a motel to get some rest. There were only two beds so Kate was sharing with Dean, not that either of them cared. The amount of times there had only been two beds between the three of them over the years, they were used to it. Kate woke up and looked at the clock beside her, 3:42AM. "Awesome." She muttered to herself, dropping back to the bed with a sigh and wondering what could have woken her up at that time. She was pulled from her thoughts by her brother jolting violently next to her in his sleep.

She glanced over at him, his face was covered with sweat as he mumbled something to himself. She placed her hand on his arm and gripped hold of his hand to try and calm him down. His eyes suddenly snapped open as he jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, dropping to his knees and throwing up. Kate climbed out of bed and went after him, closing the door softly so that she didn't wake Sam. She crouched down behind Dean and gently rubbed a hand up and down his back. When he'd eventually stopped throwing up, he moved to sit down heavily on the bathroom floor, leaning against the side of the bath. Kate slowly sat down next to him and handed him a glass of water.

"You alright?" She asked him after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Just a bad dream, that's all." He looked up and gave her a weak smile.

"Must have been pretty bad for a reaction like that." Dean didn't answer her. "Was it hell?"

He opened his mouth but closed it again. "Kate.. I can't.." He trailed off and shook his head.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." She placed her arm around him and pulled him towards her, resting his head on her shoulder. "It's gonna be alright Dean, it's gonna be okay.. You want me to get Sam?"

"No, I don't want him freaking out. He's had enough to deal with lately without this as well.." He sighed. "You too actually. I'm sorry you've got to deal with this crap all the time Kate."

"Hey, through thick and thin right?" She said lightly. "I just want you to get better, I don't like seeing you like this."

He sat up properly and looked at her sadly. "You shouldn't have to do this. You deserve better than this life Kate, you really do."

"Nah, I love the job. Everyone we meet seems to complain about it, think it's some god awful thing.. But ya know, even though we seem to have the worst look ever, I wouldn't wanna do anything else."

"Seriously? There's no other job you'd rather do? Nothing at all?" She shook her head. "So if you had the chance to be like a rock star or something, you wouldn't quit the hunting?" He raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

"What're you talking about? I'm already a rock star." She smirked.

He laughed and nodded. "That you are."

"You can get through this Dean, I know you can. I mean, you're so strong."

He looked up at her seriously and shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that one Kate."

"Look, I know you think that hell got the better of you, but you have to know that no matter what went on down there, you're the one that came out on top. I mean you've literally been through hell and back and you're still fighting because you just don't give up.. I don't think I've ever told you this before but that's one of the things that I admire most about you." Dean just stared at her, not having a clue how to respond to her. She smiled and took hold of his hand. "You need to remember, you've got a brother and sister who'd do anything for you, and we're not going anywhere. I promise."

He looked down for a second before smiling at her and squeezing her hand. "Thanks sis." He said quietly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kate looked up at him seriously. "I'm really cold."

He looked up at her and realised that while he was sitting there in some sweatpants and a t-shirt, she was only wearing some shorts and a vest. "Come on then, let's try and get some sleep."

They walked quietly into the room and heard that Sam was still snoring softly from his bed on the other side of the room. Dean looked over and saw that he was sleeping diagonally across the bed with his arms at odd angles and his head bent over to one of his shoulders. He smiled to himself before getting into bed and lying down beside his sister. He stayed awake until he heard her breathing even out and let himself drift off to sleep for a few hours.

Sam woke the next morning to see Dean sitting at the table reading a newspaper and Kate still sleeping in the bed next to his. He glanced at the clock and raised an eyebrow. 10:13. "Morning." He mumbled to Dean, standing up at stretching. "What's with the lie in?"

Dean looked up at his brother and couldn't help but smirk. Sam sure wasn't one who looked his prettiest when he woke up. "I thought we should take the day off, nothing seems to be going on anywhere so I figured we could just crash here for a couple of days 'til something pops up."

"Huh." His brother had seemed to pumped to work the past couple of weeks. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Dean smiled. "So you wanna get dressed and we'll go out and pick up some breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Sam said, grabbing some clothes and heading towards the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later looking much more presentable than when he'd gone in. He tilted is head to the side and cracked his neck. "Man, I think I slept funny or something, my neck's aching like crazy." Dean smirked to himself, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.

Kate woke up to see that her brother's had gone out. She climbed out of bed and walked over to the table, picking up a note. Gone on a cookie run. _Don't trash the place while we're out. - Dean._

She shook her head with a smirk, throwing the note in the trash before heading to the bathroom. She walked out just as he brothers came back. Dean dumped the bag on the table and sat down with his coffee, putting his feet up. He looked at her and took a drink. "You're up then?" He stated simply.

"Not much gets by you, huh?"

"You're damn right." He smirked.

"So what's the plan then?"

"Well, I think we should have breakfast, then watch tv, then have dinner, watch more tv, then grab some pizza, then watch more tv and maybe get some chips before bed."

Sam and Kate looked at each other and shrugged. "Sounds cool to me." Sam grinned.

"Totally." Kate agreed. The three of them sat down with their food as Sam began flicking through the channels looking for something to watch. They eventually settled on Jerry Springer, for some reason Kate had always found it highly entertaining.

"Hey, you remember that time we were watching this and dad came back and gave us the big speech on how it was inappropriate for us but then he sat down and got really into it?" Dean laughed. "Then when you got older, the two of you started betting money on whether people were actually cheating or whatever it was."

"Yeah, you and dad used to yell at the tv all the time. I'd be doing my homework and all I'd hear from the next room was you and dad screaming at each other like 'he's obviously not the freaking father'." Sam added with a grin.

"Yeah, that was fun." She smiled. "You know for all the bad times we had some pretty good times too."

"Definitely. Like the time you got grounded for sneaking out to that Alice Cooper concert with that guy, and then dad caught the two of you making out." Sam grinned.

"The one with the tattoos? That was so not funny!" Dean yelled at him. "I nearly broke my hand knocking his ass out."

"Oh god, dad was so angry." Kate laughed. "Hey, I brought you back a t-shirt didn't I? What's your problem?"

"You were making out with a dude with spiky hair who was wearing more eyeliner than you were. What do you mean what's my problem?"

"He was not wearing more eyeliner than I was." She argued with him. "And I don't know what you're moaning about Dean. You were like the biggest slut ever."

"He still is." Sam smirked.

"Better than being a virgin." Dean winked at him.

Sam threw a pillow at him. "I'm not a virgin, I'm just not a male whore like you are." He smirked. "Hey Kate, remember when he brought the hooker home?"

"What, when we came in for breakfast and she was just sitting there in the fishnets and leather skirt?"

"She was not a hooker. She just happened to dress like one." Dean replied innocently.

"Whatever gets you through the night pal." The three of them stayed in the motel room all day, doing pretty much what Dean had suggested until they went to bed.

Kate woke up to Sam shaking her shoulder. "Sammy? What's up?" She asked him, her words slightly slurred with sleep.

"Something's up with Dean, I think he's having a nightmare." Sam sounded worried.

She climbed out of bed and walked over to Dean's bed, taking a seat beside him. She held one of his hands while she gently ran her other through his hair, stroking his forehead with her thumb. To Sam's surprise, Dean seemed to calm down slightly for a few minutes. Once he had fallen back to sleep she crossed the room and sat down heavily at the small table, Sam following her. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dean shot up in bed, breathing heavily. He turned his gaze to them but quickly looked away, silently getting out of bed and sitting with them. "Dean, you alright?" Sam asked him warily.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Just a bad dream that's all."

"What was it about?"

Dean looked from him to Kate, who looked away. "I don't know.. I uh, I don't remember." He lied. He knew Sam wouldn't believe him but he didn't want his brother worried about him. "It's fine, really. You guys should get some sleep." He smiled.

Kate looked up at Sam, she could tell that he was exhausted but he didn't want to sleep while Dean was still up. "We should all get some sleep. You too Dean." He nodded at her slowly and walked back over to the bed, he climbed in but didn't sleep. He layed there for what felt like hours, listening to his brother and sister's breathing. After a while, he got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, closing the door softly behind himself. He stared at his face in the mirror and sighed. He went to get some painkillers and successfully managed to drop most of the stuff they'd dumped on the counter loudly into the sink. "Shit." He muttered to himself, trying to catch it all up and quietly put them back.

A couple of minutes later, there was a soft knocking at the door. "Dean?" He sighed and turned around. "Hey Dean, you okay in there?"

"Yeah Sammy, I'll be out in a minute." He said lightly.

"Dean, open the door or I'm coming in." Sam wasn't kidding, Dean could tell that. He walked over to the door and unlocked it. "What are you doing up?" He asked as he walked into the bathroom.

"Sam.."

"Dean, come on, you think I can't see it?"

"See what?"

"The nightmares, the drinking, I live with you for christ's sake. I know something's going on."

"Sam, please."

"Come on Dean, I know you're lying. You remember hell don't you?"

"What do you want from me? Huh? What?"

"The truth Dean, I mean I'm your brother. I just wish you'd talk to me."

"Come on, can we stow the couple's therapy huh? Please?" Sam sighed in defeat and looked at the floor, shaking his head. "What time is it anyway?" Dean asked him.

"About sixish."

"Huh. Well why don't you go back to bed, try getting some sleep? We'll hit the road and look for a job somewhere later on.""

"Sure." He muttered glumly, turning and walking back to his bed.

_A/N- So I did get a little stuck about what to write for this chapter which is why nothing really happened and they were just in their motel room the whole time.. I will try to give you some action in the next chapter, promise :D_


	11. Chapter 11

_I promised a little action last chapter so here you go. Hope you enjoy it and thanks again for reading. :)_

The next day went by slowly, they moved to another state and continued to look for a job. By the time night came they had driven to another motel room and checked in. "Shall we go out?" Dean said over the tv. "I saw a bar down the street."

"Sure, I'm in." Sam smiled. "You coming Kate?" He knew full well that Dean would be going, with or without them. And with his downwards spiral lately, seemingly getting worse, he decided he'd better tag along to keep him out of trouble.

"Nah, you guys go. I'm not really in the mood." She said, she was honestly just exhausted.

Dean frowned. "You sure?"

"Yeah, you guys have fun." She said with a smile. Dean shrugged and picked up a clean shirt on his way to the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind himself. Kate stood up and moved to sit beside Sam. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on him tonight, yeah?"

He could see she was worried about Dean, hell he was worried about him too. "Yeah, I always do." He gave her a reassuring smile as Dean walked out of the bathroom.

"Ready to go Sammy?" He asked his brother lightly.

"Uh-huh."

"Don't wait up." He winked at Kate as he slammed the door with a grin.

"Hey, be careful." She yelled after them.

Sam and Dean walked into the bar to find it mostly full of bikers. Angry looking bikers. "Fun room." Dean muttered as they headed towards the bar.

They hadn't been in the bar for more than a couple of hours before they managed to find themselves in trouble. Sam had been walking back from the bathroom when he'd banged into one of the bigger, more psychotic looking, guys in the room. He was obviously pretty drunk when he'd turned around and pushed Sam. Sam said nothing, not wanting to find himself in another bar fight, and watched as the guy turned to walk away. Dean, who had been watching the whole thing and who'd had quite a few drinks himself, jumped up and stormed over to him. He swung him around to face him and punched him hard in the mouth. "Dean!" Sam yelled at his brother.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?!" The guy yelled at him, spitting the blood on the floor.

"You don't push him and just walk away, understand me?" Dean warned him.

"C'mon Dean, just leave it." Sam said calmly. He wasn't in the mood for this tonight.

"Yeah Dean." The guy mocked. "Take your boyfriend and go."

"Oh look Sam, we've got a comedian." Dean said flatly.

"Think you're being clever do ya? I'll knock you on your ass."

Dean smirked at him and punched him in the face. The guy punched him back even harder, Dean stumbling backwards into the bar, knocking over several glasses and cutting his hand open. He pushed himself up and grabbed the guy's shirt, punching him again. Sam was too busy watching his brother's half assed attempt at fighting to notice when two guys came up behind him and another two passed him to assist in beating Dean. Sam put up a fight against the two guys hitting him but glancing over at Dean, he noticed he didn't seem to be putting much effort into not having his ass kicked.

He turned in time to see one of them grab Dean, slamming his face into the broken glass on the floor and allowing another guy to kick him repeatedly in the chest. Momentarily distracted by watching Dean, he received a hard smack to the side of the head. He was pushed up towards the wall and held there by two guys to watch the same happen to his brother, being slammed against the wall beside him with a grunt of pain. "Dean, you okay?" He didn't get more than a 'hmpf' as a reply.

Back at the motel, Kate was lying on the bed flicking through the same crappy channels she'd been going through for the past hour. She sighed and turned off the tv, throwing the remote down beside her leg. She picked up her phone and dialed Sam's number.

The guy holding Sam pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it. "Who's Kate? Girlfriend?" He raised an eyebrow. Sam said nothing, just glared at the wasted guy in front of him as he shrugged and answered the phone. "Hello?"

Kate sat bolt upright when she heard the deep, amused voice that wasn't Sam's. "Who the hell's this?"

"My, my you do sound pretty." He smirked at Sam.

"What's going on?" She asked, doing her best not to freak out.

"Nothing. I was just hanging with your boyfriends.. They said hi by the way."

"Put the goddamn phone down!" She heard Sam yell from somewhere in the background. The guy laughed down the phone and hung up.

Kate jumped from the bed and pulled on her boots, grabbing her jacket and running out of the door towards the bar. She banged through the doors into the silent room and looked at Sam and Dean, being held to the wall by a group of huge guys, both of them looking only half conscious. Dean looked like he'd had it worse as he was slouched over, hanging his head. His face was covered in blood. She looked around the room slowly, trying to think of a way to get them out of here moderately unharmed. Or without having anymore damage inflicted upon them.

She took a deep breath and crossed the bar, aware that everyone in the room was staring at her like she was insane. One of the guys stopped her, grabbing her around the arm in a tight grip. "Where d'ya think you're going missy?" He growled at her.

"Get your damn hands off her you son of a bitch." Dean yelled, attempting to keep his head held high enough to watch what was going on.

"You three know each other?" He took one look at the angry look on her face and smirked. "So tell me, which one's your boyfriend? Or do they share you?"

"Wouldn't mind a piece of it myself." One of the guys holding Sam said, smirking as Sam struggled against his grip. "Oh, I think this one's getting annoyed."

"You're damn right he's getting annoyed." Sam grumbled sarcastically.

The guy laughed and stayed silent for a minute, all looking between one another with smirks on their faces. Kate shook her head, deciding she'd had enough of it and looked around at them. "Well.." She started, breaking the silence. "This has been lovely, really, but you see the three of us really need to be somewhere so-"

"Oh you're not going anywhere sweetheart." He replied to her.

The guy holding Sam looked between them. "Hold on a second, is this Kate?" He grinned.

Kate flashed him a smile. "You know, I'm really not in the mood for this." She turned towards the guy holding her arm and opened the side of her jacket, showing him the gun tucked into the side of her belt. She stood on her tiptoes and put her face next to his ear. "You either let go of me now or I swear to god, I'll blow your freaking head off." She pretty much growled at him, pulling back and looking up at him darkly.

Dean managed a smirk, for such a small chick, she could sure be threatening when she wanted to be. The guy looked down at her and let go of her arm, nodding at his friends who let Sam and Dean drop to the floor. Sam and Kate each threw one of Dean's arms over their shoulders and pulled him to his feet, now hearing sirens in the distance they hurried it up.

They walked quickly towards the door and climbed into the car. Kate put her foot down and drove off down the street just as the police entered the bar. They drove back to the motel in silence and walked into their room. Sam and Dean looked at each other, watching as Kate threw the car keys on the table and put a hand on her head with her back to them. She sighed heavily and turned around. "What the hell was that?" Yep, she was definitely pissed at them this time.

"It wasn't our-" Dean started, holding himself up on the table for support.

"Don't give me that crap Dean. I thought we agreed on no more bar brawls, especially after the outcome of the last one."

"I know, but this time they really were asking for it. The guys were dicks. If it hadn't been us it would've been someone else." He said defensively with a quirk of his eyebrow, hardly noticeable through the blood coming from the gash above it. She looked over at Sam who nodded innocently at her. No matter how irritated she was with them, she still found it hard to stay angry when they were stood beaten up and looking like a pair of guilty teenagers.

She sighed and pointed at Dean. "You, shirt off." Dean did as she told him with a wince of pain, revealing his already bruising torso. "Well congrats Dean, that's gonna be a mess in the morning." She felt his ribs and proceeded to strap them up as Sam filled her in on what had happened at the bar. She shook her head and moved to start wiping the blood from Dean's face. He was now well on his way to passing out sitting up. "Right c'mon, lie down. Get some sleep." She muttered, pulling back the covers on the bed as he dropped down. She walked to the bathroom and got a glass of water, placing it on the table beside him with some painkillers for when he woke up.

"Hey, check his hand." Sam called from the bathroom. "He cut it pretty bad."

Kate picked up his hand and unballed his loose fist to find a nasty gash, pouring out blood. "He's gonna need stitches." She sighed. Sam walked out of the bathroom, having cleaned most of his face up himself, and dropped onto the bed next to them. "Are you okay? Anything feel broken?"

"Nah, he got the worst of it." He said glumly.

She shook her head and began stitching up his hand. "He can be such an idiot sometimes.. How did they even get him into that state? I mean I get there were a few of them but I've seen him take on that many guys before and he's never ended up anywhere near this."

"He'll be fine tomorrow, you'll see." He was avoiding her question, not knowing how to answer her.

Kate glanced up at him. "Sam? What aren't you telling me? What happened?"

"I dunno Kate.. It's like, he didn't even try.. Like he wanted to get his ass kicked."

"He what?"

"He mouthed off at the guy, provoked him into hitting him. But I saw him and-"

Kate raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Let's just say he didn't put up much of a fight." He looked up at Dean's sleeping form sadly. "What's going on with him Kate?" She stayed silent and began wrapping a bandage over the stitches. Part of her wanted to tell him everything she know, about the nightmares, the drinking, remembering hell. But then she thought back to what he'd said about not wanting Sam to worry about him. It wasn't her place to tell him, she would have to wait for Dean to do that himself. "Kate? Has he said anything to you?" He asked quietly.

She blinked the tears from her eyes and shook her head. "No." She whispered. "Nothing." She gently placed Dean's hand to the bed and moved to sit beside Sam.

He looked at her and pulled her into a tight hug. She leaned in towards him and gripped the back of his shirt, letting her tears flow. Sam was slightly taken aback by his usually strong sister's sudden breakdown. "Hey c'mon, shh, it's okay.. It's all gonna be okay.. Everything's gonna be fine." He said soothingly, running a hand through her hair.

Kate pulled away, wiping the tears from her face and putting her walls back up. She re-applied the usual smile to her face and nodded. "I know that, he's just.. He's reckless sometimes. Freaks me out."

"I know." He said, pulling her into another hug. Truth was he'd been pretty freaked out by his brother's behaviour lately too. Sam knew that Dean had something bothering him, and he was pretty sure that he knew what it was. But Dean refused to talk about it. He didn't know what else he could d to try and help him other than keep an eye on him. Something he hadn't done a very good job of tonight.


	12. Chapter 12

When Dean woke the next morning it was to an empty room. A loud bang came from the bathroom, telling him his sister was probably the one in there, she tended to drop things when she was trying to be quiet. His head was thumping with pain from the blows he had taken to it the previous night. He made a move to sit up and take some painkillers but was met only with a sharp pain shooting through his ribs and left hand. He groaned and laid back against the pillows.

A few minutes later, Kate stepped out of the bathroom and looked over Dean. His face had several cuts, some looking quite deep, a cut on his lip and a black eye. "You alright?" She asked him casually, it was like that was all she ever seemed to say to him anymore.

"Oh yeah, I'm just awesome." He muttered sarcastically. She didn't say anything else to him, just sat down at the table and picked up a magazine. He watched her for a couple of minutes. "I take it you're still pissed at me then?"

She sighed and put the magazine back to the table. "I'm not pissed Dean. I just want to understand what's going on in your head. You're not making it all that easy you know."

He looked at her blankly. He didn't know how he could answer that one when he honestly didn't know what was going on in his head himself. "I know I screwed up, and I freaked you out and I'm sorry okay."

"You don't have to apologise to me Dean. I told you already, I'm not mad." She stood up and walked over to him, sitting cross-legged at the bottom of his bed. He sat up properly to look at her. "You just scare me when you do stuff like this."

"Stuff like what?"

"Like letting a bunch of guys beat you up."

"So you've been talking to Sammy huh?"

Kate sighed heavily and looked him in the eyes. "Dean look, I can't begin to imagine what you went through downstairs, but whatever it is you're trying to do here, with the drinking and the fighting or whatever.. It's not the way to make things get better."

"Yeah? What the hell do you know about it huh? I was the one in hell Kate, not you, so don't try and headshrink me. You've no idea what I saw down there, you could never understand it. So just quit trying." He snapped at her, mentally slapping himself for it. She looked away and bit her lip, he knew it was to stop herself saying anything back to him. The silence was broken as Sam walked into the room. He looked between Dean's slightly annoyed, slightly guilty face and Kate who looked as through she was taking breaths to calm herself down, her hands gripping the bed sheets.

"What's going on?" He asked timidly.

"Nothing." Kate said quickly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and putting her back to them.

"Kate come on, please. I didn't mean to snap." He said quietly. She knew that, she knew that he would never deliberately want to hurt her or Sam.

Sam sat on the other bed and looked between them curiously. "Dean, this needs to stop."

"Excuse me?"

"The lying. This behaviour. You could have gotten yourself killed last night. I know full well you remember everything that happened to you in hell but you're not talking about it and I'm not pushing but seriously, you need to sort yourself out, before you get hurt. I'm not going to watch you die again Dean, I wont do it."

Dean sighed and stayed silent for a minute. "It wasn't four months, you know."

"What?"

"It was four months up here, but down there.. I don't know. Time's different. It was more like 40 years."

"My god." He whispered.

"They uh.. They sliced and carved and tore at me in ways that you.. Until there was nothing left. And then, suddenly.. I would be whole again.. like magic.. just so they could start in all over. And then this demon, Alastair.. at the end of every day.. every one.. he would come over. And he would make me an offer. To take me off the rack.. if I put souls on.. if I started the torturing. And every day, I told him to stick it where the sun shines. For 30 years, I told him. But then I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't. And I got off that rack. God help me, I got right off it, and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls.'' He let a tear roll down his cheek. "The things that I did to them.." His breath hitched as he let the tears fall.

"Dean look, you held on for thirty years.. That's longer than anyone would have."

Dean was fully crying now. He looked up at Kate who still had her back to them. From the side he could see that she had a hand over her mouth but her face was covered by her hair. "I need to go." She suddenly said, standing up and walking quickly from the room, refusing to look at either of them.

The door slammed closed, leaving Sam and Dean in silence. Dean made another attempt to get out of bed only to be stopped by Sam. "You're not going anywhere in that state."

"Come on Sam-"

"Dean, your ribs. You're staying put."

"Well then you go find her."

"She'll be fine Dean. It's you I'm worried about right now."

"I'm-"

"Dean please, don't shut me out now."

"What do you want from me? Huh?"

"I want you to look after yourself. That girl is terrified of losing her brother again. And so am I.."

Dean looked at the pleading look in his brother's eyes and looked down. "Okay Sammy."

Sam sighed and nodded, standing and heading towards the bathroom. When he came back, Dean was out of bed and dressed, pulling on his jacket. "Whoa, where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Where do you think I'm going?"

"Dean-"

"Look, I appreciate you're worried Sammy but she's just found out that I spent ten years torturing people. For all I know, she thinks I'm a freaking monster."

"She'd never think that about you, you know that."

"Well she sure didn't look impressed when she walked out did she?" He picked up his keys and headed for the door. "I'll see you later."

It didn't take long for him to find her. She was sitting on a wall overlooking a lake, her legs swinging over the side and a bottle of whiskey hanging loosely from her hand. He walked across the wall and painfully sat down beside her with a grunt, causing her to jump. "Not a particularly safe place to be sitting when you're drinking whiskey is it?" He muttered, looking down at the long drop to the river. He could easily see that she'd been crying.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said blankly.

"Hmm, you sure look it. Look about what I said, I know what you probably think of me for what I did down there, and I don't blame you. I mean, it's enough to make anyone sick-"

"Wait, you think I left because of what you did?"

"Come on, I saw your face. You looked like you were about to throw up."

She thought about it for a minute. "I didn't leave because of what you did Dean. It's not what you did that makes me sick."

"Then why'd you walk?"

"It's what they did to you, I can't listen to that. I mean, I spent long enough imagining it without-" She shrugged. "And I'm tired of you watching me cry. You were the one in hell not me."

"Hey, you know you don't have to hide it from us. You can cry all you want." She nodded without giving him an answer. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why doesn't it bother you? What I did. I mean I was.. I was like the things we hunt. I was a monster." He shook his head and looked away from her.

"Dean, you were in hell. You did what you did there.. But that's not you. You're nothing like what we hunt, you never will be."

"Yeah, you're right. I wasn't like them. I was worse.. That's them right? It's who they are. Me? I did it for the sheer pleasure."

"You what?"

"I enjoyed it Kate. They took me off that rack and I tortured souls and I liked it. All those years, all that pain. Finally getting to deal some out yourself. I didn't care who they put in front of me. Because that pain I felt, it just slipped away. No matter how many people I save, I can't change that. I can't fill this hole. Not ever." Kate didn't say anything to him. She drank the last of the whiskey from the bottle, held it out in front of her for a second before letting go and watching as it fell down into the river. Dean raised his head to her hesitantly. Her face was completely unreadable, she showed no emotion at all. "Kate.." He pressed softly. Again she didn't say anything for a couple of minutes.

"It's okay Dean." She said calmly.

"No. It's not okay." She shouldn't feel sorry for him. That's not what he wanted. That's not what he deserved. She should yell at him or be angry or scared. He didn't deserve her sympathy. Or Sam's.

"It will be, you just need to let it go. You were in hell bro, you had no choice." This time Dean didn't answer. "Come on, we should get back." He agreed silently, standing with her and walking back to the car.

That night, Kate was once again woken by her brother bolting upright in bed next to her. She sat up and moved towards him, putting an arm around his shoulders. He sighed deeply and leaned the back of his head against the front of her shoulder as she ran a hand through his hair. Kate glanced over at Sam's empty bed and tightened her arm around her brother, unsure of which one of them she was trying to make feel better. "What happened to it getting easier huh?" He said lightly, sounding like he was only half joking.

"It will get better Dean. Eventually they'll go away." She said softly, resting her cheek against the top of his head. "And until then, I've got you." She whispered. He closed his eyes and thought about going back to sleep, not sure on whether he could face another one of the nightmares. "Go back to sleep Dean. You'll be fine. And if you're not, I'll be here when you wake up." He was sure sometimes she could read his mind. He shifted himself back to lying down and quickly drifted off to sleep. Once he was sleeping, Kate climbed out of bed and headed straight for the whiskey, something she tended to go for a lot lately. She picked up the bottle and walked outside.

She shivered as the cold air hit her, she was cold but needed some fresh air to help clear her head. "You should put a jacket on, you'll get sick."

She jumped and turned around quickly, almost dropping the bottle. A tall man with brown hair and bright blue eyes was standing almost nose to nose with her. "Jesus Christ! You scared the hell out of me."

"Apologies." He said, taking a step back from her.

"You're Cas right? The angel?"

"Yes. Nice to see you again Kate." He smiled lightly. "How is your brother doing?"

"Which one? The one with the demon blood pumping through his veins, who may or may not be using his freaky powers and sleeping with a demon.. Or the one who's suffering insomnia and is well on his way to drinking himself into an early grave because he liked to torture people in hell?" She snapped at him harshly. He blinked hard and stared at her blankly, apparently slightly taken aback by her angry answer. She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Look I'm sorry, it's just been a rough few nights. I don't mean to take it out on you."

He gave her a warm smile, somehow making her feel a little better. "That's quite alright Kate."

The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes until Kate turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "So was there something else you wanted or.."

"No, I should be leaving. Remember, if you should need any assistance, just pray for it. Help will come." He told her before vanishing in front of her.

She blinked hard and shook her head. "That was weird." She muttered to herself, taking another drink of the whiskey.

"Who're you talking to?" She turned around quickly to see Dean standing in the doorway, looking around.

"What? No one." She replied.

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "So that wasn't your voice I heard talking to some guy then?" He narrowed his eyes. "Unless you were talking to yourself?"

"Oh, right. It was just Cas."

"What did he want?"

She thought back and frowned. "You know what, I'm not actually sure." She said slowly.

"Right." He closed the door and walked over to her, taking the whiskey from her hand and taking a long drink. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, you're standing outside at three in the morning drinking whiskey. That usually means something's up." She didn't answer him. "You're worried about Sam aren't you?"

"You think he's stopped right? I mean he wouldn't.." She trailed off.

He knew what she meant. The truth was he'd been thinking the same thing lately. "I don't know Kate, I don't know what goes on in his head these days.. Or yours for that matter."

"Or your own." She added.

He gave her a small smile. "Right." He muttered, looking over the parking lot and downing the last of the whiskey.


	13. Chapter 13

"So I might have a lead on a case." Sam said brightly over breakfast the next morning.

"Oh yeah? What?" Dean asked him curiously.

"Three people dead in the last two weeks, a few towns over."

"What makes you think it's our kind of thing?"

"I uh, I had a call. Someone said we might wanna check it out."

"A call? From who?" Sam didn't answer him. "Ruby? It was Ruby wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was Ruby. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't check it out."

"Right, because as far as you're concerned the hell bitch is practically family. You know something major must've happened while I was downstairs because I come back and you're BFF with a demon?" Dean was starting to get angry now.

"I told you, she helped me to go after Lilith."

"Well, thanks for the thumbnail Sam, real vivid. You want to fill in a little detail?"

"What do you actually want to know Dean? Huh?"

"I want to know why you trust her so much!" He almost yelled.

Sam sighed and looked between him and Kate. "I told you."

"You gotta do better than that. Hey, and I'm not trying to pick a fight here. I mean, I really want to understand. But I need to know more. I mean, I deserve to know more."

Sam sighed. "She saved my life. Her and this other demon, they broke into the motel room I was staying at.. They took the knife but she stabbed the other demon instead of me. She ditched the body and took an empty one.. Then she told me she'd help to me get Lilith, that she'd teach me everything she knew."

"So? What'd she teach you?"

"She taught me to pull the demons from people. Then she-" Sam stopped.

"She what?"

"She was understanding. Comforting. At the time, she seemed to have all the answers.."

Dean looked at Kate who shrugged. "Sammy, what did you do?"

"She kissed me. And then we.. Ya know..We-"

"Sam." Dean cut him off flatly.

"Yeah?"

"Stop right there. Please."

"Hey, I told you I was coming clean."

"Yeah, but now I feel dirty. Okay well, brain-stabbing imagery aside... So far, all you've told us about is a manipulative bitch who, uh, screwed you, played mind games with you, and did everything in the book to get you to go bad."

"Yeah, well, there's more to it than that."

"Just... skip the nudity, please?"

"Pretty soon after... that, um... I put together some signs... Omens."

"Saying what?"

"Lilith was in town. And I wanted to strike her first. We argued about it, she said I wasn't ready. She was right of course, I went in, nearly got myself killed. But Ruby came back for me. Whatever you have to say, she saved me. More than that, she got through to me. What she said to me... It's what either of you would've said. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here."

They were interrupted by the sound of fluttering wings. They all turned to see Castiel and another angel, Uriel, standing in their motel room. Dean stood up and walked towards Castiel. "What do you want this time?" He asked flatly.

"You are needed." Uriel told him.

"Needed? Well here's the deal, I'm kind of sick of being needed by you guys."

"Mind your tone with me."

"No, you mind your damn tone with us." Dean snapped. "You know what, we're kind of busy here so if you wouldn't mind giving us some time and taking a break from pushing us around like chess pieces for five freaking minutes?!" Dean yelled, now clearly angry.

"We raised you out of hell for our purposes."

"Yeah, and what were those again? What exactly did you want from me?!"

"Start with gratitude."

"Oh." Dean rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Dean, we know this is difficult to understand-" Castiel began calmly.

"And we, don't care. Now seven angels have been murdered, all of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight." Uriel stated.

"Demons? How are they doing it?"

"We don't know."

"I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about this? I mean, a demon with the juice to ice angels is way out of our league, right?" Sam asked him.

"We can handle the demons, thank you very much."

"Once we find out who it is." Castiel added.

"So you need our help hunting a demon?" Dean frowned.

"Not quite. We have Alistair."

"Great, he should be able to name your trigger man."

"But he wont talk. Alistair's will is very strong. We've arrived at an impasse."

"Yeah well, he's like a black belt in torture. I mean, you guys are out of your league."

Uriel smiled. "That's why we've come to his student. You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got."

Dean looked down as realisation covered his face. "Dean, you're our best hope." Castiel said quietly.

He turned away, refusing to look at either of the angels. Sam glanced at Kate who sighed and stood up, walking towards Uriel and glaring him straight in the face. "You know what, I've had enough of this. It's not happening." She warned.

"Step aside girl."

She stood her ground. "No. You've pushed him around and strung him along for weeks now. But you can't ask him to do this. It's too far this time."

Castiel gave her a sympathetic look and opened his mouth to say something, but Uriel simply pushed her aside. "Who said anything about asking?"

She turned around to see that both of the angels had vanished from the room, along with Dean, leaving just her and Sam. "Damn it." Sam yelled in frustration.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Kate asked him.

"I know how to find him." He said, making his way to the door.

"What? Where are you going?"

"I'll be back soon okay? Just, stay here."

"You're going to find her aren't you? Ruby."

"She'll be able to help Kate."

She shook her head at him and turned away. "Go then."

"Look, Kate-"

"Sam. I said go." She was upset, he could tell. And she was angry but he'd have to sort it out with her later. Dean was the important issue right now. He walked out of the door and went to meet Ruby.

Kate sat in the motel room alone for the next three hours, at a complete loss of what to do. She didn't once let go of her phone, praying to god that one of her brothers would call. "This is the last time I do this I swear." She muttered to herself as she stood up and looked towards the ceiling.

This time she didn't shout. "Alright.. Castiel please, I'm begging you here.. Please, just bring him back." Once again, nothing happened. She dropped down on the couch heavily and put her head in her hands, closing her eyes and letting out a calming breath. She opened her eyes to see Castiel standing in front of her. She stood up and looked him dead in the face. "Where is he?"

"Calm down, I'll take you to him." She closed her eyes as he placed a hand to her forehead, when she opened them they were in a hospital.

She looked around, the concern rapidly increasing in her chest. "What are we doing here?"

Castiel stayed silent as he turned away from her and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of an open door. She looked inside to see Dean lying in the bed, beaten up and breathing through a tube, with Sam sitting beside him. She turned to Castiel and shoved him hard in the chest. "What the hell did you let them do?" She yelled at him.

Sam, hearing what was going on outside, stood up and walked out of the room. "Get in there and heal him. Miracle, now." He demanded, rounding on Castiel.

"I can't." Castiel replied quietly.

"You and Uriel put him in there-"

"No."

"Because you can't keep a simple devil's trap together."

"I don't know how that happened. That trap.. it shouldn't have broken, I'm sorry."

"This whole thing was pointless, you understand that? The demons aren't doing the hits. Something else is killing your soldiers."

"Perhaps Alistair was lying."

"No, he wasn't." Sam marched back into Dean's room and slammed the door closed behind himself.

"You should watch your brother Kate. His powers are strong."

"Wait, what? He's using them again?"

"He killed Alistair."

Kate turned to face him, a look of disbelief on her face. "What happened?"

"Dean went in, the trap broke.. I don't know how. Then Sam showed up, he got the answers from Alistair."

"With his powers?"

"I'm afraid so."

"He's been with Ruby right? That's how he found you? I'm gonna murder the bitch I swear." She said coldly, turning and walking away from him. She'd gotten half way down the hallway before Castiel grabbed her arm.

"You should stay with your brother Kate." She sighed and looked into his eyes. They were filled with sympathy and understanding for her. She nodded at him and walked back towards the room, entering and sitting down opposite Sam.

"You need to tell me what you're doing Sam."

"What?"

"Whatever it is that's going with you Sam, tell me. Please." Sam shook his head, not knowing what to say. "Sam, it can't be that bad. Whatever it is, I can't promise it but maybe I'll understand. I can't unless you tell me."

He looked down as his phone rang in his pocket. "Look I-"

"Don't bother Sam." She cut him off. "You wanna bail again, fine. I'm not gonna stop you."

Sam sighed. "Look Kate, I had no choice.. I needed to find Dean."

"Save it Sam." She said blankly. "I don't wanna hear it." He opened his mouth to argue with her but closed it again, deciding against it. They sat in silence for a few minutes until it was broken by Sam's phone ringing again. He pulled it from his pocket and looked down at it. "I take it you're leaving?" She asked coldly.

"I-"

"Just get out Sam." She didn't shout at him, or sound angry like he'd expected her to. Her voice was tired, as though she didn't care or that she was disappointed with him, somehow that made him feel even worse. He put his hand on the door handle and hesitated, he didn't want to be in a fight with his sister but he knew that he had to leave. "What are you waiting for Sam?"

"Kate, please."

She stood up and looked at him properly. "He's your brother Sam. Look at the state of him. You realise that you're walking out on him for a demon right?" Her voice sounded a mix between being hurt and being pissed.

He knew that she didn't mean to upset him, or maybe she did. No, of course she didn't, she was just upset about Dean. Or the fact that he'd just walked out and left her in the motel room alone. Then, maybe she knew that he was still using his powers. But how could she? Unless Castiel had told her.. The argument in his head went on until he arrived back at the motel room where Ruby was waiting for him.

Dean woke up a few hours later to see his sister sitting beside his bed, twisting her phone around in her hands. "Hey." He croaked out, apparently snapping her out of her thoughts.

She looked up at him and gave him a small smile, something he noticed she seemed to struggle with. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." His eyes scanned the room. "Where's Sam?"

She looked down at her lap for a second before she answered. "He uh.. Went back to the motel for a while."

"Oh." He could tell that she was lying, or that she wasn't telling him everything. Something had gone down there while he'd been out but he didn't press it. The two of them sat in silence for most of the day, neither noticing when Castiel fluttered into the empty seat beside Dean's bed.

"Are you alright?" He asked Dean.

"No thanks to you." He muttered.

"You need to be more careful."

"You need to learn how to manage a damn devil's trap." Castiel said nothing. "Is it true? Did I break the first seal? Did I start all this?" Kate looked up at him in shock, her eyes wide.

"Yes. When we discovered Lilith's plan for you, we laid siege to hell and we fought our way to get to you before you-"

"Jump started the apocalypse." Dean cut in flatly.

"And we were too late."

"Why didn't you just leave me there?"

"It's not blame that falls on you Dean. It's fate. The righteous man who begins it, is the only one who can finish it. You have to stop it."

"Stop what? Lucifer? The apocalypse? What does that even mean?"

"I don't know."

"Bull."

"I don't. Dean, they don't tell me much. I know our fate rests with you."

"Well, then you guys are screwed. I can't do it Cas. It's too big. Alistair was right, I'm not all here. I'm not strong enough. I guess I'm not the man either of our dads wanted me to be. Find someone else. It's not me." He turned his head to the side and let a tear roll down his cheek.

"Cas, I need to talk to you. Outside." Kate said to him flatly. He looked up at her with a confused frown on his face. He nodded and followed her from the room, pulling the door closed behind himself. Dean strained his ears to listen to them. He heard someone being pushed against the wall of his room before his sister shouting. "What the hell did you do?"

"Kate, what are you-"

"I told you. I told you that he couldn't do it and you sent him in there anyway. Look at what you guys did to him, he could have been killed!" She shouted, tears building up in her eyes.

"Kate, if you would just calm down-"

"No, I won't just calm down. You almost got Dean killed back there with your stupid plan, and then you wait until he's lying beaten up in a hospital bed to drop the fact that he has to stop the world from freaking ending?!"

"We're asking too much, I understand-"

"That's another thing." She cut him off again. "You keep saying that you understand. About Dean and Sam.. But then you go and drop Sam into a situation that has him using his powers again."

"Your brother was already using his powers Kate."

She took a step back from him. "What?" She thought about it for a minute before putting a hand on her forehead and turning away from him, letting a tear roll down her cheek.

"Deep down you know it yourself." Castiel sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her around to look at him. "He's only getting stronger. I'm sorry Kate, but you and Dean need to stop him. Before he goes any further." She looked down but didn't answer him. When she looked up, it was to an empty hallway.

She walked back into Dean's room silently, crossing the room and lying down on the bed beside him. She buried her head into his shoulder, not speaking or moving at all but he felt her tears against his shoulder. Kate knew that he'd heard everything said between her and Castiel but still said nothing to him, just cried. Cried for Dean, the brother that literally had the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. And cried for Sam, the brother that she knew she was quickly losing in a pack of lies and deceit.

Dean held onto her tightly and kissed the top of her head. He knew how terrified she was about losing Sam because he felt the same way. It was something he knew they would have to take care of soon. There was no way that what he was going could possibly end well..


	14. Chapter 14

Dean slowly managed to drift off to sleep, his sister still lying beside him. Once she heard Dean's breathing even out and was sure that he was asleep, she stepped out of the small hospital room and closed the door. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. "Cas.. I need some help." She whispered, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall again. "Please."

Within a couple of seconds, he was standing beside her. "What do you need?"

"Stay with Dean. I don't want him to be on his own when he wakes up."

He tilted his head to the side. "Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Sam." She answered quietly.

Castiel nodded. "I shall be here when you get back." He said, turning to the room. He stopped and looked around at her. "Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, Sam's not himself right now. Make sure you're ready for what you might see there." He said to her, walking into the room and closing the door behind himself.

Kate took a breath as she turned the corner to the street of the motel. She stopped across the road when she saw Ruby walk up to the door and knock, Sam came to the door and let her inside. Kate crossed the street and walked towards the room, glancing inside as she passed the window. She looked inside to see Ruby sitting over Sam with a knife at her arm, pulling the blade over it she drew blood. Her eyes went wide with horror as Sam grabbed Ruby's arm and began to drink the blood straight from it.

She stood there for a couple of minutes, unable to think or even breath, tears forming in her eyes from not blinking. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of Sam drinking blood, especially from a demon. She slowly backed away before turning and breaking into a run, not stopping for about ten minutes. Releasing a long breath she slowed into a walk and entered a bar. There was no explaining this one to Dean, she couldn't.

Dean blinked open his eyes to see Castiel sitting in the chair beside his bed. "Cas?"

"Hello Dean." He responded simply.

"Whatever it is, no." He said harshly, shifting to sit up. "Hold on, where's Kate?" He asked, noticing that she was no longer in the room.

"I believe she's gone to find your brother."

"What?"

"Maybe she's finally about to find out what we've wanted to know for a long time now."

Dean chose not to get into that discussion with him again. "So what are you doing here? Shouldn't you have gone with her?"

"She asked me to stay with you. And I came to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

"Your brother. You need to stop him."

Dean frowned. "Stop him from what?"

"Using his powers. He's headed down a dark path Dean. And he's only getting stronger."

"How?"

"I don't know. But he can kill."

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "Kill?"

"Yes. He killed Alistair. You need to stop him Dean, before he goes any further."

Dean nodded. "I'm gonna call her." He picked up his phone from the table and dialed his sister's number.

"Dean?" She answered.

"Where are you?"

"At the motel, are you okay?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Why do you sound like you're in a bar?"

"Dean.."

"What did you find out Kate?" She didn't answer him. "Kate? You there?"

"Yeah, I'm heading back there now."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'll see you in a few minutes okay?" With that, she hung up.

Dean turned to Cas. "Oh she definitely found out something, and it doesn't sound good." The two of them sat in silence until Kate came back. She slowly walked through the door and closed it behind herself, turning and resting her forehead against it. "Kate?" Dean said softly. "What happened?"

"I.. He.." She shook her head, not being able to bring herself to say it.

"C'mere." He said gently. She crossed the room and sat down on the end of her bed. Dean took hold of her hand and looked her straight in the face. "Kate, whatever you saw, we need to know."

"He's.. He's drinking her blood." She said, so quiet that she barely heard herself.

"He's what?" Dean asked, not sure he'd heard her right.

"He's drinking Ruby's blood. I think."

"You think?"

"Well yeah, that's what it looked like but.. he couldn't have been right?" She turned to Castiel. "Why would he even do that?"

"That's what's making him so strong. He must have been comsuming it for a while now. It's what gives him his demonic powers. So the more he drinks.."

"The stronger he gets." Concluded Dean. The three of them looked at each other. "Well not for much longer."

When Kate and Dean arrived back to the motel room the next morning, it was to find Sam sitting reading alone. "Dean, hey. Are you alright?" He asked them as they walked in.

"Yeah, I'm good." He said flatly. He crossed the room and stood in front of Sam, Kate hanging back and sitting on the bed closest to the door. "We need to talk Sam."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "About?"

"About you. And your powers."

Sam narrowed his eyes at him. "You think I'll do it don't you? You think I'll go dark side."

"Yes, I do. I mean the way you've been acting lately. The things you've been doing." Sam looked up at him, his eyes wide. "Oh, I know. How you ripped Alistair apart like it was nothing. Cas told me, alright?"

"What else did he tell you?"

"Nothing that I don't already know. That you've been using your psychic crap, and you've been getting stronger. And now we know how."

"It's not what you think."

"Then what is it Sam? Huh? 'Cause I'm at a total loss." He shook his head at him. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"The demon blood Sam, is that how you're doing it?" Sam looked down at the floor. "Sam, tell me you're not drinking demon blood." Dean's voice was almost pleading with him to say no.

"Dean I.." He didn't know what to say to him. "Look, I get you're angry, take a swing or whatever-"

"I'm not gonna take a swing." Dean answered him blankly.

"Then scream, do something."

"I'm not mad, Sam."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Come on, you're not mad?"

"Nope."

"Right. Look, at least let me explain myself."

"Don't. I don't care."

"You don't care?"

"What do you want me to say, that I'm disappointed? Yeah, I am. But mostly, I'm just tired." Dean now spoke with no emotion in his voice. "I'm just done." He shook his head and turned away from him, walking out of the room and closing the door softly behind himself.

Sam turned his attention to Kate. She sat staring at the floor in front of her. "Kate.." She moved her eyes towards him. She looked angry and hurt. "Let me explain."

"No." She whispered, her voice sounded defeated.

"What?"

"I don't want you to explain it Sam. I'm scared of what you might say."

He moved to sit on the bed beside her but she stood up and walked towards the window. "Kate, you don't understand. It's not what you think-"

"Don't." She cut him off. "I saw you Sam.. I was here."

He frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I watched you drink her blood Sam." She told him flatly.

His eyes went wide. "It's not how it looks Kate."

"How can you even say that?" She yelled, turning away from him.

He walked up behind her, now angry himself. "Don't take that tone with me Kate. You said yourself, you could understand this."

She turned to him and slapped him in the face. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare twist my words around to make yourself feel like you are not two-faced, lying junkie Sam. Because you are." Sam just stared at her, unable to think of a way to answer her. She sighed and lowered her voice. "You have to stop this Sam, it's going to kill you."

"I know you don't understand, but I need to do this."

She looked him straight in the face. "All my life, I've followed you around. You and Dean. I did everything that either of you ever asked of me, without question. I trusted you. No matter what came your mouth, no matter how stupid, I trusted you. I'd have done anything-" She stopped and took a breath. "I'm asking you now Sam, trust me. What you're doing is wrong. It's not the answer to anything." He didn't answer her. "But you're not going to stop are you?" She nodded to herself and turned away from him, clearing her throat. "Goodbye Sam."

"Wait, what?"

"I tried Sammy. You're my brother, and I love you. You know that. But I wont stay here and watch you do this to yourself. Not a chance." She turned away and walked out of the door, leaving Sam alone.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam sighed heavily as he stood alone in the motel room. He walked over to the window but saw neither his brother or sister, wondering whether they'd gone off together or gone their separate ways. He leaned against the wall and dropped down it until he was sitting on the floor, elbows rested on his knees and face in his palms. He had no idea how he'd let things get this far. He never wanted this to happen, he just wanted things to go back to the way they were before. He picked up his phone and opened the contacts, his thumb hovering over the button highlighting Kate's name. She was too angry, she'd said goodbye to him. He scrolled up and stopped at Dean's name. He was angry too, but more upset with him. He sighed heavily and dropped the phone to the floor.

He sat there for a while, thinking over everything Dean and Kate had said to him before they'd left. His phone rang from the floor, pulling him from his thoughts. He glanced down at it and saw that it was Ruby. He stared at it until it stopped. Ruby was the core problem here, the one who was the main reason for the fighting going on between them. Maybe they were right, maybe he should just answer the phone and tell her where she could stick her plans for him. But then, she was the one who could help him get to Lilith, who could teach him what he needed to know and the one had what he needed to become strong enough to kill her. He needed to kill Lilith. After what she did to Dean. She dragged him to hell, almost killed both himself and Kate with the grief it caused them. She had to die, he just hoped someday Dean and Kate would be able to understand why he had to do this. He picked up the phone and called Ruby back.

Dean sat in the dark bar, bottle of beer and three shots of whiskey in front of him. He drank the shots before starting on the beer. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone, thinking about calling Kate and making sure that she was alright. He hadn't even bothered to wait around and see if she was coming with him or staying with Sam. He wanted to know where she was, but he also wanted to be alone for a while. Maybe he should call Sam. He considered giving him the ultimatum; sticking with him and their sister or staying with Ruby. He would have done it but right now, with wherever Sam's head was at, he was pretty sure they wouldn't be the ones Sam picked. And he couldn't take being told that by Sam.

Kate left the motel room and walked into the parking lot, noticing Dean's car had gone. She knew where he'd be, probably at the nearest bar, but she couldn't be bothered looking. She didn't want to talk to either him or Sam right now. She was tired of slugging it out with Sam, arguing over whether what he was doing was right or not. And tired of looking at the worry and pain in Dean's face. Watching him lie to her, saying that he was fine and everything was going to be alright. They all used to be so close, now it was like they were all just drifting further and further apart. She walked through the streets, not aiming anywhere specific, but stopped when she came to a bridge overlooking a river. She leaned against the railings and closed her eyes.

"You're not going to jump are you?" A voice asked from behind her. "Cause that would be dramatic."

"No, but I might throw you over." She muttered before turning around. "What the hell are you doing here Ruby?"

"Sam told me what happened." She stated simply.

"And? I suppose you care? Because you're the sweet little human demon that loves bunnies and chocolate cakes right?"

"No. I don't care about you. Or Dean." She practically spat out. "You know, I really don't like you Kate. And as for Dean, I despise the ground he walks on. But I do care about Sam."

"You care about him going dark side Ruby, there's a difference. You don't care about him at all so quit pretending."

"Don't give me that speech. You and Dean both bailed on Sam and you know it."

"Don't talk about what you don't understand." She replied coldly.

"Oh, I understand fine. You're a stupid little bitch Kate. You're following Dean around just like he followed daddy around. Don't you have a mind of your own?"

"Don't push me Ruby." Kate yelled.

"And Dean, he's just a coward. Your brother would've made a great demon. He's nothing more than a lying, vindictive, murdering little thug."

"Shut the hell up." She said, clenching her fists.

"I mean he goes on and on about Sam being all demonic or whatever the hell he says. But you should have seen him in hell, ripping those people apart. He was more of a monster than Sam could ever even dream of being. And you know what-"

She was cut off by Kate's fist crashing straight into her mouth. "You're nothing more than a lying little skank Ruby."

"A lying little skank who Sam loves." She smirked. "Either way I've got it better than you and your brother."

Kate punched her again and again until Ruby grabbed her hair and head butted her. She stumbled backwards and took a right hook to the face before standing up straight and punching Ruby in the face again. She punched her until she fell to the floor and went to grab the demon killing knife from her belt, her face falling when she realised that she didn't have it. Ruby grinned and stumbled to her feet with a laugh. She punched Kate again causing her to fall to the ground, hitting the head on the railing as she went down. Kate groaned as she felt the blood run down her face.

"What's the matter Kate? Your little plan to kill me with my own knife fail?"

"Go to hell."

"You really are a stupid little whore aren't you? You don't fight a demon without a weapon."

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio-" Ruby cut her off with a hard kick to the ribs.

"Shut up."

"Omnis congregatio et secta diabolica-" She kicked her in the ribs again, harder.

"It's not going to happen Kate." Ruby spat out, punching her a few more times in the face before knocking her out. She stood up and walked away, leaving her unconscious on the side of the road.

When Dean arrived back to the motel room it was empty. He turned on the light and immediately noticed that Sam's stuff was gone. He shook his head to himself and pulled out his phone, dialing Kate's number. A wave of panic ran through him when she didn't answer. He called her again and again until the fifth time the phone was answered. _"Hello?" _The voice wasn't Kate's. It was a guy, he sounded scared.

Dean immediately tensed. "Who the hell are you?"

_"Um.. My name's Jake." _

"Where'd you get the phone, Jake?" Dean practically growled down the phone.

_"This chick, she's like lying in on the road. I think she was hit by a car." _

"What?" Dean walked straight to the motel door and over to his car.

_"I was driving past, she's just lying here. There's blood." _

"Where are you?"

_"The bridge that goes out of town. I should go, I need to call an ambulance."_

"I'm on my way. Just, don't do anything until I get there. Don't call anyone."

_"But-"_

"No buts." Dean cut him off. "Just do what I'm telling you."

He arrived at the scene within five minutes. There was a car pulled over on the side of the road and a guy crouched down, a girl lying in front of him. "Oh god no." He muttered to himself as he ran towards them, dropping to his knees beside Kate. He took his sister's face in his hands and looked her over. There was deep gash on her forehead, blood trailed down one of her cheeks. Her left eye was already swelling and she had a busted nose and lip, as well as small cuts on her forehead and cheek. He gently placed a hand to her neck and released a breath when he felt her pulse. "Hey, hey Kate.. Can you hear me sis? Come on, just open your eyes for me." He shook her gently. "Please."

"Man, she needs a hospital." The guy who Dean had forgotten was sitting beside him said.

"No." He couldn't take her to the hospital again. He couldn't stand to see her lying in one of those beds again like the last time. "She's alright. She's just knocked out.. She's gonna be okay."

Her head moved to the side as her eyes slowly opened. "Dean?" She murmured.

"Yeah, it's okay, you're fine. I'm gonna take you home okay?" He noticed her scrunch her face up in pain as he picked her up and placed her into the Impala. He closed the door and turned his attention to the guy who was still standing by his car. "Hey, thanks man. You know, for staying with her and stuff." He grabbed a twenty out of his back pocket and handed it to him.

"You don't have to give me anything."

"Just take it, I've had enough arguments for tonight man." Dean smiled lightly.

"Well, thanks. Hope she feels better." He said, handing him Kate's phone and turning to get into his own car.

When Dean pulled up outside the motel, Kate had pretty much come around. "You think you can walk to the room?" Dean asked her softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled, ignoring the splitting headache and sharp pains in her ribs as she slammed the door closed and crossed the parking lot to their room, stopping at the door when she realised that it was locked. "So he's gone?" She asked Dean as he pulled out the key to unlock the door.

"Yeah, I guess so." He didn't miss the look of pain flash over her face for a second before she got herself under control again. He pushed open the door and followed her inside. "C'mon, sit down." He said gently, pushing her to one of the chairs at the small table and pulling out the first aid kit to begin cleaning the blood from her face. "So what happened?"

"I ran into a car." She said blankly.

"Don't give me that crap." He grabbed her hand and turned it over, showing the blood staining her knuckles. "You were fighting with someone Kate, so you might as well tell me who it was."

She sighed. "It was Ruby. She showed up mouthing off and I lost my temper."

"Did you kill her?" His voice was almost hopeful.

"No. I tried to exorcise her but she seemed to think it'd be more fun to knock me out." She muttered sarcastically.

"What did she say?"

Kate thought back to their fight, one line sticking out in her mind. _Your brother would've made a great demon. _"Nothing.. Just the usual stuff."

Dean narrowed his eyes at her. "Such as?"

"She made some smartass comments about Sam. Called me a few names, called you a few names. Ya know, nothing special."

"Right." He finished cleaning her face and went to get them a beer from the small fridge. "We'll find them Kate. We'll hunt them down and we'll stop Sam and then we're going to put a knife through her neck." She could tell by his tone that he wasn't kidding around, and she believed him. Well, she believed he'd try. But they both knew that it wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy as that.

When Dean woke up the next morning, his sister was still sleeping. He looked over her face sadly. She had a nasty black eye and a deep gash on her forehead, as well as a few other cuts, but other than that she looked fine. "Hey! Get up!" He said as he climbed out of his own bed. She didn't respond to him. Dean shook his head and poked her in the shoulder. "Kate, don't make me drag you out of bed with your ankles again." She mumbled something that he didn't understand and continued to ignore him. "Fine, have it your way." He smirked as he pulled the covers totally off her, the smirk quickly fading from his face. Her shirt was raised slightly at one side, showing the huge bruises on her stomach. "Kate, what the hell?"

She opened one of her eyes and looked up at him. "What's your problem now?" She followed his eyes to her stomach and saw the bruise, quickly pulling her shirt back down to her waist.

"Did she do that to you?"

Kate climbed out of bed and ran a hand over her face. "Yeah." She answered flatly.

"And you didn't think to mention last night that she tried to kick a hole through your ribs?"

"It's not a big deal, I'm fine. Really."

"I really am going to kill her."

She nodded. "We've gotta find them first Dean."

"Yes, we do. So how do we do that? And stop the world from ending at the same time?"

"I don't know. I mean, what are even supposed to do when we find them?"

"We take the knife, we stick it through Ruby's neck and then we kill Lilith the way we were taught to kill demons."

"Maybe we should call Cas? See if he knows where they are?"

"Worth a shot I suppose." He closed his eyes. "Hey Castiel, can you come down here please? We need your help."

Within seconds, he was standing in the room with them. "What happened to your face?" He asked Kate.

"Bitch happened to her face." Dean answered angrily.

Castiel looked at Kate and frowned. "Ruby."

"I see. So what do you need?"

"We need to find her. And Sam." Dean said.

Castiel vanished from sight for a few seconds before appearing behind them. He picked up a piece of paper from the table and wrote something down on it, handing it to Kate. "He's at that address. Good luck." With that, he vanished again.


	16. Chapter 16

Dean and Kate stopped outside Sam's motel room and looked at each other. "Dean?" Kate said quietly.

He turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Don't say anything you're gonna regret. We need to get through to him here, not push him away."

He nodded and pushed open the door. They saw Ruby putting things into a bag, her back to them, but Sam was nowhere to be seen. Dean pulled the knife out of his belt and ran at Ruby. She turned and went to punch him but he pushed her back into the wall and raised the knife. As he brought it down, someone grabbed his arm and stopped him. Sam. "No. Let her go." Sam warned him. "Just take it easy."

"What the hell Sam?"

"Let's just talk about this." He said calmly.

"Soon as she's dead, we can talk all you want." He said, nodding towards Ruby.

"Ruby, get out of here." She turned ans walked quickly out of the room, slamming it closed behind herself.

"She's poison Sam."

"It's not what you think Dean." Sam argued.

"Look at what she's done to you. I mean, she up and vanishes for weeks at a time, leaves you cracking out for another hit-"

"She was looking for Lilith."

"That is French for manipulating your ass ten ways from Sunday."

"You're wrong Dean."

"Sam, you're lying to yourself." He lowered his tone. "I just want you to be okay, you'd do the same for me. You know you would."

"Just listen for a second. We got a lead on Lilith, come with us." He looked between them. "We'll do this together."

"That sounds great. As long as it's you, Kate and me. Demon bitch is a deal breaker. You kiss her ass goodbye and we can go right now."

"I need her to help me kill Lilith. I know you can't wrap your head around it, but maybe one day you'll understand. I'm the only one who can do this."

"No. You don't know what you're doing Sam."

"Yes, I do."

"Then that's worse. Look at her face." He pointed at Kate. "Ruby did that to her."

"I know Dean, but-"

"You know?" Dean now sounded more pissed than ever. "You knew that she beat the hell out of her? You knew that she just left her on the side of the road? And you're still rolling with the bitch?! That's your sister Sam!" He yelled.

"I have to do this. I know you're mad but-"

"No Sam, you don't get it. There is no going back from what you're doing yourself." Sam frowned in confusion. "It's not just something that you're doing. It's what you are. It means-" Dean stopped himself.

"What?" Realisation hit his face. "No. Say it."

"It means your a monster."

Sam looked up at him with tears in his eyes and nodded. He looked over at Kate who was watching them with a look of horror on her face. He turned to Dean and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Dean stumbled to his feet and punched Sam back harder. He punched him again and again before kicking him. Sam blocked one of Dean's attacks and kicked him in the stomach. He punched him, Dean falling face first into a mirror. He turned back to Sam who punched him again and grabbed his jacket, throwing him through the air and through a glass window. He stormed over to where Dean was lying and pinned him down, wrapping his hands around his neck and choking him.

Kate's eyes went wide in shock as she ran over to them, dropping to her knees and trying to pull Sam away from him. "Sam! What the hell are you doing?! Stop it!" She half yelled, half pleaded with him.

He released his grip on Dean's neck and got to his feet, looking down at them both coldly. "You don't know me. You never did, and you never will."

Dean coughed slightly and tried to catch his breath. "You walk out that door.. don't you ever come back." He warned.

Giving them one last look, he shook his head and walked out of the door. Dean made an attempt to grab his sister's arm as she stood up but she'd already crossed the room and ran after Sam. "Hey!" He stopped and turned slowly to face her, not saying anything. "You really gonna do this Sam?"

"Yes. I am."

Her face softened for a moment, a pleading look in her eyes. "Please Sam, I'm begging you. Don't.. Just, don't do it."

"I have to."

She shook her head and looked towards the floor. When she looked back to him, her face was cold. "You realise we have to stop you right?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her hard into the wall, holding her there. The face she looked into was not her brother. It was cold and empty. "You can't stop me Kate. Neither of you can. I'm stronger."

She shook her head at him. "No. You're just a junkie with an addiction." He glared at her before pushing off her and taking off down the hallway, disappearing from sight. She opened her mouth to call after him but decided against it.

When she walked back into the room, she realised how much damage the two of them had done fighting. Everything breakable in the room was broken. Glass was smashed, chairs knocked over and blood on the floor. Dean was now sitting up, leaning against one of the beds. Kate crossed the room and dropped down next to him on the floor, both staring blankly ahead for a few minutes. "What now?" She asked him quietly.

"Now nothing." He said flatly. "We're done."

"Dean, I know you're pissed. And I'm not making apologies for what he's done, but he's still our-"

"Blood?" He cut her off. "He's our blood? Is that what you were going to say?"

"He's our brother."

"Kate, we tried to help him, but look what happened." He said, gesturing to the broken glass at their feet.

"So we'll try again." He shook his head at her. "Dean, if we don't do something we're gonna lose him for good."

"No. We gotta face the facts here Kate. Sam never wanted to be a part of this family. He hated this life. Hell, he ran way to stanford the first chance he got. Now it's like déjà vu all over again." He sighed. "Well, I am sick and tired of chasing him. Screw him, he can do what he wants. We've already lost him."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. Sam's gone. I'm not even sure if he's still our brother anymore.. If he ever was."

"Dean-"

"No Kate. I told him, 'you walk out that door, don't come back' and he walked out anyway. That was his choice. You went after him and he ditched you too."

"He's not himself right now, but he's still Sam. He's still the same kid you practically raised, the same kid that we grew up with, hunted with. The same kid you sold your soul and went to hell for. You can't tell me that means nothing to you."

Dean looked up at her, tears glistening in his eyes. He reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I'm sorry." He whispered, standing up and leaving the room. She let the tears fall down her cheeks before standing up and leaving the room, heading down to the reception desk to check them into another room.

When she heard Dean come back from wherever he'd been, it was almost half four. He didn't bother getting changed, just dropped straight onto his bed in his clothes and slept. When he woke, it was half eight. Kate was sitting at the table on her laptop with a coffee. He groaned as he sat up and went to sit across from her at the table, picking up some painkillers on his way. "Hungover Dean?" She asked him casually, not taking her eyes from the screen.

He picked up a bottle of whiskey and took a drink with the painkillers. "Now why would you go and say a silly thing like that huh?" He muttered sarcastically. She looked up at him and shook her head, reaching over the table and taking the whiskey from his hands. Before he had a chance to argue, she pushed her coffee over the table to him. He opened his mouth to argue but decided against it. "Thanks." He mumbled. "Look, I'm sorry for bailing on you last night."

"Don't worry about it." She mumbled. "It's-" She stopped at the sound of fluttering wings, looking up as Castiel appeared in the middle of the room, looking alarmed. Dean and Kate looked between each other before standing to face him. "Cas? What's up?" She asked him, sounding worried.

"Sam. You must stop him."

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, so you keep saying."

"No. I mean you have to stop him from killing Lilith."

They both stared at him for a minute, utterly confused. "I'm sorry, what?" Dean asked. "Lilith's breaking the seals, Cas, you've done nothing but tell us we have to kill her for weeks now."

"Lilith's not just breaking the seals. She is the final seal."

Dean frowned. "Meaning what exactly?"

"She dies, Lucifer's free."

"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered.

"So you see, you must find Sam immediately."

Dean was silent. Honestly, the last thing he wanted to do right now was see Sam. Castiel looked from him to Kate who nodded. "Yeah, we understand Cas." She told him, looking up at Dean. "We need to go. I know you're mad Dean but we need to stop him. Lucifer gets out and we're all dead."

"Yeah, I know." He said slowly. "Where will they be?"

"St. Mary's convent. You must hurry. The angel's will kill me if they find out that I've told you. I'll hold them off but I can only do that for so long.. I'm rebelling for you, don't make it for nothing." He touched their heads, sending them to the convent. They heard a scream from downstairs and looked at each other, breaking in a run towards the basement..


	17. Chapter 17

Dean and Kate ran down some stairs and through a dark stone hallway, coming to a stop when they reached an open door. Sam was standing in front of Lilith, Ruby right behind him. She turned to face them and smirked as she raised her arm, the door slamming closed in their faces. They looked between each other before they began kicking and banging against the door, trying to get it open.

Sam faced Lilith. The demon he had spent weeks, no months, looking for. The demon that had sent his brother to hell. The demon who was about to spring Lucifer from his cage. He'd lost his brother. He'd lost his sister. He wasn't stupid. He didn't expect them to forgive him for this, but he knew that even though the demon blood and the working with a demon thing might not have been the best way to go about it, he was doing something good here.

He raised his hand towards her and closed his eyes. He could hear his heart pounding in his head. He could hear voices shouting, screaming his name. Voices that sounded like Dean and Kate. He slowly put his arm down, trying to work out if the voices were in his head or not, and turned towards the door. His eyes fell to Ruby who was screaming at him. He couldn't hear anything other than the thumping in his head and the voices desperately shouting his name.

There was laughter behind him. He turned back to Lilith. "You turned yourself into a freak Sam. A monster. And now you're not gonna bite? I'm sorry but that's honestly adorable."

He once again raised his hand to her and began to pull the demon from her body. His head was burning. He opened his eyes to see her glowing and flickering from the inside, her body beginning to go limp as the demon was pulled from it. There was a crash behind him as Dean and Kate stumbled through the doors.

Kate grabbed Ruby by the hair and held her arms tight behind her back. She pulled her around to face Dean as he plunged the knife through her chest and twisted it, a look of pure hatred on his face. Her head dropped to the side before Kate let go of her, throwing the body to the floor. There was a scream behind them as Lilith took the opportunity to leave the body that she had been possessing.

"No!" Sam shouted, raising his arm in an attempt to pull her back to the body.

"Sam, leave her!" Dean ordered him.

"Are you insane?! No!"

"She's the final seal Sam! She dies and he's free. Let her go!" Dean yelled at him, shoving Sam's arm back to his side. Sam looked between them slowly, a look of shock and horror plastered over his face. A bright light shined through the windows as the room began to shake. "Angels." Dean muttered. "We have to go. Now." He yelled, turning towards the door.

Kate looked around at Sam who was still staring at Lilith's host's body on the ground. "Come on, we gotta go!" She yelled, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the door. They ran out of the building and practically jumped into the Impala. Dean wasted no time in slamming his foot on the pedal and driving full speed out of town.

They drove in a tense silence. Kate and Dean in the front and Sam in the back. Kate looked tentatively over at Dean whose eyes were fully focused on the road, refusing to look away. His jaw was clenched and his knuckles were white from the death grip he had on the steering wheel. "Guys.. I'm sorry." Sam spoke up from the back seat. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't say anything." Dean muttered, no emotion in his voice.

"But-"

"It's okay Sam. We stopped it in time. It's over." He said, his tone ending the conversation.

Dean drove for a few hours before pulling into a motel. Kate walked into the small room first, dumping her bag on the floor and dropping into one of the chairs at the table. She watched her brothers cautiously, as if she was waiting for the fists to start flying again. Dean sat down at the table across from her and rested his face in his hands, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm gonna take a shower." Sam said quietly, walking to the bathroom and closing the door softly behind himself.

"Dean.." Kate said quietly.

He completely ignored her for a couple of minutes before looking up at her and shaking his head. "What are we supposed to do now?" He asked flatly. "I'm not dealing with him and his freaking demon blood addiction."

She sighed as he stood up. "Dean, where are you going?"

"I need a drink." She shook her head. "Are you coming?"

"Nah, I'm gonna grab some sleep." She muttered, standing up and pulling off her jacket, her back to him. Dean sighed and pulled her around to face him, sighing as the tears fell down her cheeks. He took a step towards her and held her in a tight hug as she cried silently against his shoulder. He softly kissed her head before she pulled back to smile at him. "You should go."

"Kate, I-"

"Seriously, I just wanna sleep. You need a drink."

"Call me if you need anything." He squeezed her shoulder before making his way to the door and leaving the room.

When Sam left the bathroom Kate was passed out in one of the beds and Dean was gone, he presumed to a bar. He jumped slightly at a sound behind him, turning quickly to see Castiel. "Cas?"

"Hello Sam." He said simply. "I'm glad to see that your siblings reached you in time."

"Yeah. Look Cas, I'm sorry."

"You have no need to apologise to me Sam." He raised his hand and placed it on Sam's head. "You're fine now, all traces of the blood are removed from your system."

"Thanks Cas."

"It would be wise to stay away from working with demons in the future Sam." He offered him a slight smile before vanishing again. Sam sat down heavily and pulled out his phone, smiling slightly at the picture of himself and his siblings pulling stupid faces on the front. He sighed and shoved it back into his pocket. The only thing that he could do now was try and put their broken relationship back together.

Sam was the first to wake up the next morning, he went out to get the three of them coffees and came back to find both Dean and Kate awake. Kate was sitting on one of the beds flicking through the tv channels while Dean was rummaging through his bag. "Hey." He said quietly, not sure on whether he should expect an answer.

"Hey." The both muttered in response, neither looking up from what they were doing. He handed them both their coffee and sat down, not missing the look that they shot each other.

"You alright Sam?" Kate asked him casually.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She nodded. "Good."

Dean looked around at him. "You sure? Not jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or something?" He asked. Sam could tell by his tone that he was still angry.

"No. Cas came round last night, he cleared me up. For good." He didn't miss the look of relief wash over Dean's face for a second before he went back to looking for whatever in his bag. "Dean-" He started, quickly being cut off by his brother.

"Sam. It's okay. You don't have to say anything."

Sam looked down at the floor. "Well, that's good. Because what can I even say? I'm sorry? I screwed up? Doesn't really do it justice, you know?" Dean remained silent. "Look, there's nothing I can do or say to ever make this right-"

Dean raised his voice in frustration. "So why do you keep bringing it up?! I mean-" He took a breath and lowered his voice. "You know what, just forget it."

"No, what is it? You obviously have something to say, so what is it?"

"I tried Sammy, I mean I really tried. But I'm not gonna keep pretending like everything's alright. Because it's not. And it's never going to be.. You chose a demon over your own family."

"I know that Dean. And you're right, you guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen."

"You're damn right you didn't listen!" He yelled. "You were stupid, and- I don't even know Sam."

Sam looked down and shook his head. "I would give anything to take it all back."

"I know you would. I'm just.. I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here, you know?"

Sam nodded. None of what Dean was saying actually surprised him. If he was being honest, he'd expected a lot more. He looked up at him as he threw the bag to the floor and grabbed his jacket. "Where are you going?" Kate asked him.

"Out." He muttered, crossing the room and walking out of the door. Sam watched out of the window as Dean past his car, walked over the parking lot and down the street. He turned away from the window and glanced at his sister, he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Kate.

"Don't apologise Sam." She stood up and sat down at the table with him. "I'm not gonna lie okay? I'm pretty pissed, yeah. And I'm not for one second saying that demon blood was the best way to go about it but.. I know you thought that you were doing the right thing. And I know that if you'd have known, you wouldn't have done it." Sam nodded. "Point is Sam, we're still family. All we've got is each other."

"He's never going to forgive me for this Kate." He whispered, tears in his eyes.

"He will. He just needs time to get it through his head." She said softly. "But things will get better, trust me."

He gave her a weak smile and nodded. "Yeah."

Dean came back a couple of hours later, looking slowly around the room. "Where's Kate?" He asked Sam, noticing she was gone from the room.

"She went to get her phone from the car."

"Oh, I never saw her." He muttered, looking out of the window at where his car was parked. He dropped into the chair opposite Sam's and looked at him. "Listen Sammy, we've both said some stuff to each other lately that we shouldn't have said. And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry things went so far."

"Yeah. Me too."

"We've been through so much crap, but we always come out of it okay. This time's no different."

Sam nodded. He looked up as Kate walked into the room, looking between them nervously as she closed the door. "We all okay?" She asked, walking towards them slowly.

Dean smiled. "Yeah, we're all good. Fresh start right?" He said, looking over at Sam.

"Yeah. Fresh start." He agreed.

He knew it wouldn't be easy, there were still some trust issues between the three of them for sure. But they'd work on them, maybe they'd never fully be gone but he knew that they could at least work on them. They'd be okay. They had each other's backs again and it felt good to know that. He knew they'd be fine. Because they always were..

THE END.

_Massive__thank you to all of you who __favorited, followed, reviewed and for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. :-) __If you liked it, the sequel is Kate Winchester, Part Two :) Maybe check it out?_


End file.
